The Department of Water and Sanitation in KwaZulu-Natal has called on residents to avoid the vandalism of water infrastructure, as dam levels in the province see a minimal decrease this week.

The province’s storage capacity this week declined to 71.4% from last week’s 71.6%.

The department said it was concerned about the continuing protests in different parts of the province, which have led to service delivery disruption.

“You will note that there are some areas which have had water supply challenges and as such, we have, through our entities and various municipalities, been augmenting water through water tankers,” department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said in a statement.

Ratau said as a result of the ongoing protests, it has been difficult for some municipalities to dispatch water trucks to affected communicates.

“It is for this reason that we implore members of the community to steer away from vandalising infrastructure and report such acts to local authorities.”

He said amid the minimal decline of dam levels, the Umgeni Water Supply System had recorded an above average percentage at 81.7%, from last week’s 82.4%.

“We have dams on the system that are doing fairly well, such as the Midmar Dam, which presently stands at 97.6%, a minimal decline from last week’s 98.1%,” said Ratau.

Nagle Dam was also down from 87.6% to 87.4%. Albert-Falls Dam, which supplies the eThekwini Metro and surrounding areas, is down from last week’s 53.9% to 53.3%. Inanda Dam on the Mgeni River was at 93.6% from 94.5% in the previous week.

Meanwhile, Hazelmere Dam was below average at 45.8% from 46.9% in the previous week.

Driel Barrage, Woodstock and Craigie Burn Dams remain unchanged from last week’s percentages of 87.2%, 93.2% and 100.4% respectively. Mearns Dam was on a downward spiral from 101.0% last week to 85.3% in the current week.

Spring Grove Dam was at 92.6% from 93.0%, Ntshingwayo Dam at 76.3% from 76.7% and Wagendrift Dam at 99.4% from 99.7%.

Goedertrouw Dam is at 73.4% from 73.7%. Also seeing a decline are the Klipfontein, Hluhluwe and Pongolapoort Dams at 93.4%, 92.3% and 57.6% respectively. The dams recorded 95.9%, 93.2% and 57.7%. Unchanged are the Bivane (96.1%) and Zaaihoek (78.4%) Dams.

The department said infrastructure vandalism can be reported on 0800 200 200.

Source: South African Government News Agency