Country’s water levels continue to rise due to widespread rainfall
The weekly status of reservoirs released by the Department of Water and Sanitation this week indicates an enhancement of water levels, this contrasts with the same period last week and last year respectively.
South Africa’s dam levels have risen, and this is a manifestation of recurrent torrential rainfall in most parts of the country over the last couple of weeks as we approach the winter season.
This week, the overall storage capacity of the country’s water level sits at 94.2%, a notable improvement from last week’s 92.8%, and a massive increment from last year’s 84.7%.
Although the overall national dam levels show an increase, the majority of the provinces have recorded reductions in water levels namely, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Northern Cape, however Free State and the drought-stricken Eastern Cape have slightly increased.
One of the major water supply systems which covers a number of provinces, the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) is fixed at 100.7%, meanwhile, Gauteng provincial dams have marginally declined from 100.7% to 100.3%, Roodeplaat also plummeted significantly from 111.7% to 108.5%.
Free State Province is among those that have increased from last week’s 102.1% to 105.3% this week. Vaal Dam which is part of the IVRS has somewhat moved up from 106.0% to 106.1%. Both Gariep and Vanderkloof Dams which are part of Orange River Water Supply System have recorded significant gains from 99.9.% and 100.3% to 105.9% and 105.5% respectively.
KwaZulu-Natal water levels have also dropped from last week’s 88.1% to 87.7%. One of the province’s largest dams, Albert Falls Dam, an integral part of the Umgeni Water Supply System which supplies water to the eThekwini Metro and surrounding areas jumped from 101.3% to 102.5%.
The drought-stricken Eastern Cape province is among those that have increased albeit slightly, rising from 63.6% to 65.8%. The Algoa Water Supply System has further diminished to an alarming 15.2% from last week’s 15.8%.
North West Province is firm and unmoved at 74.3%. This is driven by amongst others an upward movement of Hartbeespoort Dam which is part of Crocodile West, It has moved from 96.7% last week to 97.1% this week.
In the Western Cape, which is a combination of parts that experience rainfall in winter and those that receive rainfall during other seasons have declined slightly from 64.5% last week and 62.7% this week.
In as far as Limpopo is concerned, the provincial water levels have declined slightly from 87.9% to 87.6% this week. Major Dams in the province such as Nandoni and De Hoop have recorded marginal reductions from 101.3 to 101.2% and 100.3% to 100.2% respectively.
Furthermore, Mpumalanga recorded a minor decrease with 92.9% from last week’s 93.2%, however the province’s Nooitgedacht Dam which is part of the IVRS has dropped from 95.3% to 92,9%, Kwena Dam which is part of Crocodile East Water Supply System is down from 100.5% last week to 100.2% this week.
Although the country’s water levels are in a healthy state due to extensive downpours experienced recently, the Department of Water and Sanitation persists in encouraging the public to use water with caution and conserve the available water since we will soon be heading to the dry winter season and further than that South Africa is a water-scarce country.
Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
