KZN residents urged to save water ahead of winter season
The Department of Water and Sanitation in KwaZulu-Natal has called on residents to use water sparingly as the winter season approaches. This comes as the weekly status of dams reports showed marginal increase from last week’s 72.1% to 72.4% this week. When compared to a similar period last year, the province’s dam levels stood at 60.9%.
The Umgeni Water Supply System with dams supplying water to the eThekwini Metro and surrounds, has increased from 82.8% to 83.1%, this time last year it recorded 69.8%.
The Department has since called on residents to use water prudently as it is anticipating that the winter dry season will have a major impact on water levels.
“We have some districts which are still experiencing the effects of drought and this is a major concern for the Department,” said spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.
Ratau said the districts include the Uthukela, Umzinyathi, Amajuba, Zululand, Uthungulu and Umgungundlovu areas. He added that the Department has several ongoing short, medium and long term interventions designed to mitigate drought effects in those districts.
“One of the short-term measures is ensuring that the water tanks we provided this time last year, are always filled up with water in order to enable communities who continue to experience inconsistent water supply to have water,” he said.
Ratau said one of the province’s largest dam, Albert-Falls has marginally increased from last week’s 52.3% to 52.4%. Meanwhile the Nagle Dam has declined from 85.3% to 83.4%.
Inanda Dam is down from 101.1% to 100.7%. Midmar Dam is at 100.5% from 100.1% while Hazelmere Dam has increased from 53.8% to 54.2%.
Here’s a look at this week’s dam level status in some KwaZulu-Natal dams:
|
DAM |
STATUS LAST WEEK |
STATUS THIS WEEK |
|
Klipfontein |
100.0 % |
100.5 % |
|
Woodstock |
95.7 % |
95.7 % |
|
Spioenkop |
100.1 % |
100.1% |
|
Hluhluwe |
100.1 % |
101.4 % |
|
Zaaihoek |
82.1 % |
82.1 % |
|
Wagendrift |
100.8% |
100.8% |
|
Spring Grove |
85.3% |
87.5% |
|
Bivane |
101.0% |
101.3% |
|
Ntshingwayo |
86.9% |
89.3% |
|
Pongolapoort |
55.5% |
55.7% |
|
Driel Barrage |
95.0% |
90.3% |
|
Mearns |
80.1% |
101.0 |
|
Goedertrouw |
74.4 % |
74.5% |
Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
