The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has granted permission to the City of Cape Town to construct an emergency spillway on the fourth and remaining farm dam that has been reported to be on a verge of collapse, to route the flood and lower the risk of failure of the dam.
This follows the failure of three farm dams located in Riverlands that breached, resulting in flooding that caused severe property and infrastructure damage to the affected area, leading to hundreds of people being provided with humanitarian assistance.
The three failed dams did not have sufficient spillways and had filled beyond the safe level, resulting in overtopping due to high rainfall and associated run off, causing them to fail in series. The fourth dam, which is the highest dam in the valley, also has no spillway, and it has been discovered that it has some structural damage. The dams are owned by the Western Cape Provincial Government and serve the local farmers.
To reduce the risk of potential failure, the DWS Dam Safey Office has granted permission for the construction of an emergency spillway on the fourth dam. The construction has commenced under the supervision of an Approved Professional Person and will ensure that this dam is able to handle the anticipated floods due to the predicated rainfall which will last until Tuesday. The existing outlet pipe of the dam will also be kept fully open to allow the dam levels to drop to safe capacity or even empty if required.
The preliminary report by DWS engineers who are on site is that the dams failed at approximately 3am on Wednesday, 07 August. The town of Riverlands, approximately 2 km downstream, was partially flooded. Because the dams stored the bulk of the catchment runoff and not having any spillways to discharge any water in rainy seasons, the river dried up downstream. Most of the affected houses, railway line, subsistence farming smallholdings, schools, roads and other structures were constructed in the original river flood zones.
DWS will conduct an investigation into the causes of the dam failures. Depending on the results of the investigation, DWS may implement regulatory actions to ensure accountability.
DWS is doing its best to assist the City of Cape Town during this difficult period to ensure that the situation is normalised. The DWS has dispatched its engineers from the Western Cape Regional Office to provide expert advice to stabilise and rehabilitate the situation.
A local Joint Operations Committee has been established represented by a variety of municipalities, disaster management teams, DWS, Gift for Givers, SPCA, Social and Humanitarian organisations, amongst others.
The Department would like to assure communities around the affected area that all hands are on deck with relevant stakeholders and further encourages community members to cooperate during this period to ensure speedy work on site.
For more information, contact
DWS Head of Communication, Dr Mandla Mathebula
Cell: 083 235 8675
