Tzaneen dam sitting at 18,5%, WSA may be forced to stop extracting
'The situation in the Tzaneen dam is concerning as it might force the Water Service Authority (WSA) to stop extracting water if it does not rain in the coming month or so.'
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) in Limpopo has called on residents to continue using water sparingly as the province’s dam levels continue to decline week-on -week.
The provincial levels are at 61.5 % this week, declining by 5.4% compared to this time last year, when the province was sitting at 66.4%.
A weekly report by DWS suggests that the situation is so dire, especially in most parts of the Mopani District Municipality where levels in 10 major dams in the District dropped to an alarming 28% because of the drought.
The situation has been exacerbated by the persistent heat wave that has been experienced in the area. In a desperate move to stop the dams from drying out completely, the District Municipality has stopped the extraction of water from the Modjadji and Thapane dams in the Greater Letaba Municipal area.
According to the department, the summary of Water Management Area (WMA) for Limpopo compared to the same period last year, the dams have dropped to from 74.3%, to 61.9 %, and the Olifants WMA is currently at 59.4 % compared to 63.0% in the same period last year.
The Polokwane Water Supply Systems continues to decline and it i now sitting at 76.1%, even though it has improved quite considerably improvement compared to last year when it was recorded at 50.8 %.
The Luvuvhu Water Supply Systems have slightly decreased this year, having recorded 91.1 % this week compared to 93.2 % in the same period last year. Nandoni Dam is currently steady at 93.81% compared to last week’s 94.28%.
Ebenezer Dam is at 70.91 % this week compared to last week’s 71.64%, a decrease of 0.73%.
Tzaneen Dam continues to slide, sitting at 18.85%, compared to 19.46% last week, a decrease of 0.61%.
The situation in the Tzaneen dam is concerning as it might force the Water Service Authority (WSA) to stop extracting water if it does not rain in the coming month or so.
Mokolo Dam slightly decreased by 0.28% from 72.63% last week to 72.35% this week and De Hoop Dam went down from 82.47 % last week to 81.76% this week with a decrease of 0.71%.
Read: Water Wednesday: Free State dam levels have slightly declined
The Department calls on the WSAs to continue to implement water restrictions so that reliable water provision is sustained until the province gets enough rain to fill all the dams. Water is a scarce resource and catalytic towards economic development and it must therefore be conserved at all times.
