Perennial rains make little impact on the water situation

SEDIBENG.- The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu recently appealed to shack-dwellers and those who live below the flood line to relocate immediately to higher and safer areas to avoid being flooded.
The heavy rains that fell in parts of the country recently wreaked havoc and mayhem in Gauteng. The Minister warned especially shack dwellers in KwaZulu-Natal who live next to rivers to relocate.
Meanwhile, the recent rains in Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga and south of Limpopo have had little impact on the country’s water situation, with dam levels still dropping by one percent weekly. The Department of Water & Sanitation said that on the contrary, the national dam levels have dropped from 57,6% to 56,1%.
Hydrologists attributed this state of affairs to the heavy rains falling in areas that have little or no catchments at all. The week-long rains caused widespread flooding in Gauteng, with several motorists and residents in Centurion and Mamelodi in Pretoria left stranded as a result.
Meanwhile, Joburg and Tshwane metros are keeping their water restrictions in place while they are assessing the cumulative impact of the heavy rains in the two cities.
The latest report that was issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation suggests that the heavy rains only had an impact on smaller dams in regions that did not have sufficient catchments to harness rain water.