DWS monitoring Vaal Dam as water level spikes to over 90%

As the Vaal Dam edges closer to the 100% mark, the Department of Water and Sanitation is monitoring its levels daily.

The dam’s water level reached 89.2% on Thursday, following a dramatic surge over the past week. The current water level is now at over 91.8%.

It marks a significant recovery from earlier this year when the dam was below 30% capacity.

Sluice gates

Water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina said the dam’s sluice gates are up to standard and they would only release water from the dam according to their standards.

Majodina said the department would inform affected communities if water needed to be released from the dam to ensure a normal level.

“We cannot allow the dam to overflow again. It can cause a disaster, and that dam is not going to collapse. We have checked through our dam safety. We are still intact, but when we are about to release water just to ensure that we have a normal level, we are going to inform the community that they must not be scared when they see a lot of water coming out.

“Already in December, we prepared the communities to say it takes three days for released water to go to the Vaal Dam and to come to Gauteng. So, people were just watching because we cannot risk the lives of our people. Water can be a good thing, but it can be very dangerous,” Majodina said.

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Dam levels

Majodina said the department would have released water into the Vaal dam from the Sterkfontein dam if the level had fallen below 18%.

She said this was not necessary as the dam’s water level had spiked after the recent heavy rains.

“When everybody was making noise to say we won’t have water, I said calm down. I am still saying the country must not panic. We have water, but we must use water sparingly. We must attend to non-revenue water.”

Precautions

Meanwhile, Midvaal councillor Pieter Swart said the Vaal Dam’s inflow has slightly decreased to 335 m³/s, while the discharge remains steady at 16.8 m³/s.

“With no substantial rain forecasted in the near future, water management strategies are being approached with caution.”

Swart said the Vaal Dam is designed to handle excess water through a controlled release system using sluice gates. This ensures that any overflow is managed strategically to prevent downstream flooding risks.

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