Leeubos Dam. Picture: Department of Water and Sanitation
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s latest weekly report revealed a significant decline in the country’s dam water capacity levels.
31 dams nationally recorded levels of under 50% of their full capacity, with some going as low as below 1%.
KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape were the only provinces with dams that have proportionately high capacities.
The lowest reserves in these provinces stood at 62% at Spring Grove Dam, 75% at Bronk Dam, and 62.0% at Bulshoek Dam.
The Vaal Dam, an essential part of the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), recorded a capacity of 34.8% of its full storage capacity (FSC) of 2.5 billion cubic metres, this week.
According to the department’s comparison report, it went down from 36.2% the previous week, and 75% last year.
Allemanskraal Dam was slightly below half of its FSC, it stood at 49.1%, slightly up from 48.8% last week. Comparatively, it boasted a higher capacity of 84.8% last year.
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Out of six dams, only two dams were below half of their full capacities.
Karee Dam which has a 1.0% FSC recorded 35.1% this week, maintaining last week’s level.
Karee was at 92.7% of its full capacity last year sound the same time.
Leeubos Dam, also with a 1.0% FSC was at 0.0%. It was also empty last year, at the same 0.0%.
Seven out of 29 dams in Limpopo recorded capacities below 50%.
Glen Alpine Dam stood at 0.6% this week, with an FSC of 18.9%. Last week the dam was a bit higher standing at 2.1%, however, this is a stark difference considering that last year it was significantly higher, recording 51.1%.
Middel-Letaba Dam this week stands at 0.7%, maintaining the same level as the previous week. The dam was at 3.6% last year around the same time. FSC of 172.0%
Modjadji Dam is at 29.2%, last week it was at 30.2%. Last year, around the same time, the dam boasted a much higher level, standing at 60.8% with an FSC of 7.2%.
Nsami Dam with an FSC of 21.9% this week stands at 12.0%, last week it was at 13.% and last year, Nsami boasted a capacity of 54.3%.
Nwanedzi Dam with an FSC of 5.2% recorded a 9.9%, a capacity much lower than last week where it was 31.0%. Last year, around the same time, Nwanedzi boasted a much higher level of 78.5%.
Tzaneen Dam with an FSC of 114.3% recorded the highest capacity among Limpopo’s dams this week, standing at 49.3%. Last week Tzaneen Dam was at 51.0%, and last year, it stood at 74.7%.
Vergelegen Dam was the second highest, maintaining stable levels since last week, at 48.7%. Contrastly, last year around the same time Vergelegen stood at 95.7%.
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Only five out of 45 dams in the Eastern Cape recorded capacities below 50%.
Debe Dam, with a 6.4% FSC stood at 25.7%, seeing an increase from last week where it sat at 20.1%, and last year it was slightly higher at 36.7%.
Impofu Dam stood at 40.8%, a slight increase from last week’s 39.5% and last year’s 40.4%. The dam has a 105.8% FSC.
Lake Arthur Dam was at 49.8%, decreasing from 50.8% last week. Lake Arthur boasted a 97.5% capacity last year around the same time; it has an 11.3% FSC.
Lubisi Dam saw a slight increase to 36.3% from last week’s 35.2%. With an FSC of 113.6%, Lubisi stood at a higher level of 73.9%.
Nuwejaars Dam decreased from 54.4%, to 53.4% this week. It was much higher last year, at 86.9%.
Three of the 22 dams in Mpumalanga were below half of their full capacities.
Ohrigstad Dam was the lowest, maintaining last week’s stable level of 16.7%. Ohrigstad has an FSC of 13.5%, it stood at 60.3% last year.
Westoe Dam was the second lowest, filling only 35.4% of its full capacity. This is an increase from last week’s 35.3%, however, last year Westoe was slightly almost half full at 44.5%. It has a 60.1% FSC.
Buffelskloof Dam slightly decreased to 47.3% from 50% last week. It was 80.7% last year. It has a 5.3% FSC.
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10 of 28 dams in the North West were at below 50% capacity.
Kromellenboog Dam with an 8.7% FSC, stood at 38.3% of its full capacity. This was a decrease from last week’s level of 41.2% and last year’s higher level where it stood at 74.9%.
Lindleyspoort Dam stood at 25.1%, decreasing from 26.2% last week, and 82.0% last year. Lindleyspoort has a 14.3% FSC.
Madikwe Dam recorded a 23.2% capacity, a slight decrease from 23.6% last week. With a 16% FSC, it had a much higher water level last year, sitting at 65.5%.
Marico-Bosveld Dam was also less than quarter of its full capacity, at 24.2% this week and 25.5% last week, while it boasted 69.5% last year. It has a 27.0% FSC.
Molatedi Dam slightly decreased to 27.6%, down from 27.9% last week, it was almost double this level last year, at 53.3%.
Ngotwane Dam of 19.1% FSC, was at 32.2% a stable level since last week. It was only 5.6% higher last year at 37.8%.
Pella Dam stood at 20.5% this week, down from 21.6%. Last year it stood at 51.5%. Pella has a 2.2% FSC.
Rietspruit Dam recorded 39.0% this week, a slight decrease from 39.5% last week. Last year, Rietspruit’s capacity was 68%. Rietspruit’s FSC is 7.3%.
Swartruggens Dam’s level was below 1%, recording 0.7%, it was at 1.1 % last week. This is a significant decrease from its level of 80.5% last year, with a 0.5% FSC.
Vaalkop Dam slightly decreased to 30.3% this week, from 30.8% last week. It boasted 85.5% last year. Vaalkop has a 51.4% FSC.
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