Dam level is critical and no rain is forecasted

We only have enough water left for four months, should rain not fall in time.
This is not a story sucked out of someone’s thumb. You can just drive along the Olifants River to see what disaster the municipality is steering to. The dam has now reached the critical level of 42%.

“This is the level I set as to activate increased water saving measures some time ago and we will now proceed to announce and implement these,” a very worried Municipal Manager Mr Theo van Vuuren said.

He explained,

“80% of our water is from the Witbank Dam and at an extraction of between 3% and 4% per month, we will be at 25% in four months from now. The minimum level where we can extract water from this source is at 25%. Our additional supply sources such as from reclamation plants are being ramped up but in the event that we lose our supply from the dam and soon will not be able to fully replace the demand requirements in the short and the medium term.”

Witbank Dam is running dry. (Photo: Dr Robert Clark).

The plans as previously announced where that the municipality will be able to increase their supply of water from alternative sources but that would require time, and has a two year time horizon. The technical teams are busy with emergency planning to accelerate these plans but also to put emergency arrangements in place in the event that the availability of water becomes constrained.

“In the short term we need to intensify our attempts to conserve water.”

In the coming week further water saving measures will be published. At the next council meeting a revised tariff structure, similar to that announced by some other cities to encourage a reduction in water utilisation, will be submitted.

The municipal law enforcement unit has been instructed to intensify the monitoring of compliance to these measures and will in the near future if cooperation is not achieved, issue fines to transgressors.
The South African Weather Service hosted a media conference on August 29 where the seasonal forecast for the coming spring and early summer season was shared.

Not a lot of rain is expected soon. (Photo: Dr Robert Clark).

According to the weather service in spite of reports to the contrary, the 2015/16 drought is still persisting over most parts of South Africa. The recovery of drought conditions are expected to be delayed due to expected below normal rainfall conditions, coupled with above-normal temperatures during September, October and November over the central interior and eastern parts of the country.

But the weather service said indications are currently that above-normal rainfall and temperatures could be expected during November, December and January

Currently the situation is delicate for all climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water management and health. As the country is already under water stress, water needs to be used sparingly.

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