Water levels continue to drop in Mpumalanga
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report of June 7 showed that the average levels in the listed dams in Mpumalanga had recorded a slight drop of 0,3% from last week’s 86% to 85,7%.
Despite the continuous decline, the current levels are more than 10% higher compared to the same period last year when they had stood at 74%.
The average is still looking good, mainly because the majority of listed dams in the Ehlanzeni District recorded some improvements, followed by the Gert Sibande District that also recorded improvements. All the dams in the Nkangala District continue to record declines.
Dams that recorded improvements in the Ehlanzeni District include:
• Buffelskloof Dam, from 100,1% to 100,2%
• Klipkopjes, from 99,6% to 99,8%
• Witklip, from 100,1% to 100,2%
• Primkop, from 99,8% to 100,4%
• Da Gama, from 98,9% to 99,8%
• Inyaka, from 86,4% to 86,5%.
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Blyderivierpoort and Kwena dams remained unchanged at 100,3% and 100,1% respectively.
Improvements in the Gert Sibande District included:
• Vygeboom Dam increasing from 100,3% to 100,6%
• Jericho from 81,3% to 81,4%
• Morgenstond from 85,3% to 85,4%
• Heyshope Dam remained unchanged at 86,5%.
The Nkangala District led the drop in dam levels with all the listed dams recording declines.
• Witbank Dam dropped from 95,1% to 94,9%
• Middelburg from 90,8% to 90,5%
• Loskop from 97,5% to 96,9%
• Rhenosterkop from 9,4% to 9,3%.
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Dams that recorded declines in the Ehlanzeni District include:
• Driekoppies Dam from 100,2% to 100,1%
• Longmere from 100% to 98,7%
• Ohrigstad from 77,1% to 76,0%.
In the Gert Sibande District, Grootdraai Dam dropped from 90,9% to 89,9%, Nooitgedacht from 95,8% to 95,6% and Westoe from 80,2% to 78,6%.
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In terms of the water management areas (WMA), the Olifants WMA dropped from 78,9% to 78,6% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA remained unchanged at 91,6%.
The Department of Water and Sanitation urged the public to use water wisely.
“As we are now in the dry winter season in Mpumalanga and most parts of the country, we urge the public to continue using water wisely and sparingly as water conservation is key to water security, especially in a water-scarce country like South Africa.”
