Holding Thumbs for Summer Rains as Vaal Dam Keeps Dropping

The Vaal Dam has continued to fall this week, hitting levels unseen since the beginning of 2017, when large parts of the country were in the grip of a devastating drought. But other dams feeding the north of the country have kept good levels.

“As the Vaal Dam persists to drop week-on-week, it now hovers at distressing levels of 37.6 percent, down from 38.8 percent last week. During the comparative period last year, the dam stood at reasonably stable levels of 59.9 percent,” the Department of Water and Sanitation said on Thursday.

The Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), which consists of 14 dams, has recorded a fall again this week.

“Although the levels of the IVRS are impacted negatively by the falling dams, it remains stable. This is even as it has decreased from 60.8 percent last week to the present levels of 60.4 percent. The IVRS was much healthier at 66.3 percent in the same week last year.”

“As the levels of the Vaal Dam persist to plummet to lower than expected, the Department of Water and Sanitation warns Gauteng water consumers to heed calls to curtail excessive usage,” the department said.

Grooitdraai Dam has dropped minimally, from 79.4 percent last week to 78.9 percent. It stood at 61.7 percent in the same week last year.

“A reserve dam located in the Free State, the Sterkfontein Dam, held on to 93.9 percent for a second successive week and is higher compared with the levels of 92 percent at the same period last year,” the department said.

The Bloemhof Dam went up from last week’s 96.5 percent to 97.3 percent. Conversely, it stood lower but firm at 96.0 percent in the same week last year.

However, the same cannot be said about the levels of both the Mohale and Katse Dams, which are both in Lesotho.

Mohale fell to 6 percent this week. At the same time last year, the dam was at 33.1 percent. Katse Dam dropped from 27.7 percent last week to 27.5 percent this week while at the same time last year it was in the red at an equally low 17.8.

– Additional reporting by SAnews.gov.za