South Africans urged to save water as dam levels drop

As South Africa moves into the summer months and warm temperatures, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has urged South Africans to use water sparingly, especially those living in the North West.

The department said water levels have dropped from last week’s 76.3% to 74.9% this week, across various dams in the province.

“When compared to a similar period last year, the overall storage capacity stood at 73.7%.”

The department shared a breakdown of the various dam levels.

Dam levels

Lindsleypoort Dam is down from 64.2% last week to 63.1% in the current week, while Klipvoor Dam located on the Pienaars River has declined from 95.1% to 92.2%.

Roodekopjes Dam has also experienced a decrease from 90.7% to 86.8%; Marico Bosveld Dam is also down from 93.1% to 91.6% while retaining above average percentages.

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Molatedi Dam on the Groot-Marico near Zeerust is below average at 39.3% from 39.9%. Madikwe Dam situated on the Tholwane River has taken a dip from last week’s 47.9% to 47.1%; Hartbeespoort Dam is also down from 95.6% to 94.6% while Olifantsnek Dam has also subsided from 72.7% to 71.9%.

Vaalkop Dam has seen a minimal drop from last week’s 83.5% to 80.0% this week; Taung Dam which provided water to Taung and surrounding areas has decreased from 99.1% to 97.2%. Disaneng Dam showed an increase from 58.2% to 58.8. decreased from Bospoort Dam from 101.0% to 100.7%.

Meanwhile, Setumo and Koster Dams have recorded 73.2% and 47.4% respectively. A marginal decline from last week’s 72.7% and 47.8.

Ngotwane Dam is below average at 41.8% from 41.5% recorded in the previous week.

The Department has urged residents to fix and report water leaks and infrastructure vandalism to their local municipalities and other authorities.

Gauteng

At the same time in Gauteng, the Vaal Dam has also dropped a percentage point from 96.2% to 95.2%, while the Bloemhof Dam on the Vaal River dropped from 96.9% to 95.8%.

Water scarcity

South Africa is a water scarce country and ranks as one of the 30 driest countries in the world with an average rainfall of about 40% less than the annual world average rainfall.

The country has an average annual rainfall of less than 500mm, while that of the world is about 850mm.

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