Gauteng dam levels drop slightly, increases for other provinces

Despite heavy downpours across Gauteng over the past few days, dam levels have declined, the department of water and sanitation said on Thursday.

Gauteng was in the lead with dam levels increasing to 103% but levels have dwindled to 99.4% this week, said department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.

He said national dam levels remained steady at 62.4% of capacity.

Recent heavy rains in the Northern Cape have resulted in a huge increase in dam levels from 73.3% last week to 80.9% this week.

Ratau said dam levels in the drought-stricken Eastern Cape increased from 49.3% last week to 50.7%.

However, Butterworth, Chris Hani district municipality and Joe Gqabi were still experiencing a drought with the Xilinxa Dam at 4.9%, a slight rise from 4.3% last week.

Dams in North West were 67.3% full compared with last week’s 66.7%.

The province’s dam levels were at 58.1% last year.

Mpumalanga dam levels have increased steadily to 74.4% from 74.1%.

The province’s Nooigedacht and Vygeboom dams are at 100.7% and 100.9% respectively compared with 99.2% and 100.6% last week.

Ratau said Free State dams had experienced a slight improvement, increasing to an average 69.2% from 69.0%.

Fika-Patso Dam, which supplies the residents of Phuthaditjhaba in QwaQwa, has remained steady but at a low of 10.4% week on week.

“The dire situation in the area has called for the intervention by the minister of human settlements, water and sanitation to provide interim measures to address water challenges in the area.

“Ten water tankers and a number of water tanks were dispatched to the area to bring immediate relief,” he said.

Limpopo dams have risen from an average 60.8% to 62.3%.  

In the Mopani Region, Tzaneen and Middle-Letaba dams are at lower levels by 8.7% and 2.8%.

“SA is still a water scarce country, despite the recent rainfalls in various parts of the country.

“Residents are encouraged to practise restraint when using water. A culture of harvesting rain water should also be practised, both in urban and rural areas, in an effort to augment water provision,” Ratau.