The weekly report issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation has shown a huge improvement of the water levels in the reservoirs of the country to 96.6% this week, as compared to last week’s 89.8%. This is due to recent rainfall in most parts of the country. This is a huge improvement of the national average as compared to last year’s 77.9%.

The rainfalls have also improved the country’s Water Supply Systems, which have been on a downward spiral in the past weeks. The Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), which consists of 14 dams in four provinces is sitting at 101.2% this week, a notable improvement from last week’s 93.3%.

Part of the IVRS is the Vaal Dam, which supplies water to Gauteng province. Vaal Dam is now at full capacity to 106.4% this week, compared to last week’s 91.3%. This huge overflow of the dam resulted in opening eight sluice gates to ease the pressure on the infrastructure and manage the continuing inflows.

Other provinces that have experienced a significant increase in the water levels this week include Free State from 96.8% to 107.5%, This is a huge movement considering that the Free State is home to the two largest dams in the country. Mpumalanga provincial levels rose from 89.3% to 93.7%, KwaZulu-Natal from 85.3% to 88.0%, North West from 72.4% to 81.2%, Limpopo from 82.5% to 85.5%, and Northern Cape from 96.1% to 96.8%.

However, Western Cape has experienced a decrease to 67.8% this week from last week’s 69.3%. The dam levels in the Western Cape were standing at 81.4% last year at this time, meaning there is a decline when compared to last year, due to less rains this past winter rainy season in that province.

“Due to lack of rainfall in the Western Cape, the provincial water levels are on a steady decline from 69.3% last week to 67.8% this week. It is the same with the Cape Town Water Supply System that consists of dams that supply water to the City of Cape Town and surrounding areas.  The system is sitting at 77.8% this week, a concerning drop from last week’s 79.5%”, said Mr Ratau.

The Department of Water and Sanitation urgers communities that reside downstream of the rivers that are rising, or near the dams where releases are happening, to be vigilant during this rainy season. Examples of these dams are the Vaal, Pongolapoort (Jozini popularly), and Hartbeespoort, to name a few.

Source: Government of South Africa