Provinces experience a slight improvement with dam levels
In recent days, heavy rains have wreaked havoc in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. KwaZulu-Natal’s uMzingwenya River caused flooding in areas of Umvoti, Pongola and Stanger, whereas flooding was also experienced at Hennops River in Centurion, south of Pretoria in Gauteng Province. This prompted Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Ms Lindiwe Sisulu to issue a warning to Gauteng residents not to cross areas that are overflowing, and those residing near embankments of the rivers to relocate to alternative safer places.
Despite the damage they have caused in some parts of the country, these rains have brought some improvement of dam levels in various provinces. Gauteng leads with a significant increase to 111.3%, compared to 88.2% last week. This is within the context that Gauteng dams are significantly smaller than those in the Northern Cape and Free State in terms of volume.
Northern Cape follows with 75.3%, an improvement from 70.5% last week. Mpumalanga has experienced a slight improvement to 60.2% from 55.7%. North West is at 54.8% this week as compared to 53.9% last week.
Despite the improvement in some provinces due to the recent rainfalls, Eastern Cape continues to experience dry weather conditions due to lack of rain. The dam levels in the region have decreased from 47.6% to 47.2% this week. The area of Butterworth, and areas under Chris Hani District Municipality and Joe Gqabi are still experiencing drought with Xilinaa Dam and Gcuwa Dams sitting at 0.0%.
Free State Province has also experienced a significant decline this week. It moved from 66.0% to 62.3%. The situation at Fika Patso Dam has not changed. The Dam which supplies the area of Phuthaditjhaba, Qwaqwa remains unchanged with 37.2%.
Limpopo is also stable with the dam levels sitting at 49.1%. The Mopani Region of Limpopo where the Tzaneen and Middel-Letaba dams dropped to 4,8% and 2,7% respectively remains a concern.
At national level, the average dropped slightly from 57,6% to 56,1%.
South Africa is still a water scarce country, despite the recent rainfalls in various parts of the country. Residents are therefore urged to practice restraint when using water. A culture of harvesting water should also be practiced, both in urban and rural areas, in an effort to augment water provision at households.
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