With the consistent rainfall, eMalahleni received the past few weeks the dam level has been rising.
On Thursday, February 4 three sluice gates at Witbank Dam were opened at 400mm.
The dam level was at 98.6%.
On Friday, February 5 only one sluice gate was opened at 400mm, with the level standing at 94.6% to prepare for more rainfall that has been predicted for the weekend.
The Highveld of Mpumalanga was blessed with a fair share of rain since last year.
Mr Johan Crombrink, a local horticulturist, said since October last year the rain-drenched the earth in eMalahleni.
He measured the following in Modelpark: October 73.5mm, November 142.5mm, December 58.75mm, and January 96.1mm.
In February Johan measured 13.5mm so far.
“I measure the rain with my plain plastic rain meter I bought from the then OTK. It still works effectively,” Johan said.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report of February 1 shows that the average water levels in the listed dams in the Mpumalanga Province increased by 8.7% from last week’s 72.1% to 80.8%.
The dam levels mean that there is currently 2052.0 cubic meters of water in storage out of the required full capacity 2538.6 cubic meters.
This is a major improvement as compared to the same period last year when the dam levels stood at 74.1%.
“Witbank Dam increased from 91.9% to 95.1%,” said Mr Themba Khoza from DWS. Khoza urges the public to stay away from dams, rivers, streams and other watercourses to prevent the loss of lives as the water levels continue to rise due to the falling rain. The department also encourages the public to practice rainwater harvesting and collect rainwater to ease the strain on government systems,” Themba said.
Rietspruit Dam was overflowing on Wednesday, February 3.
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