Mpumalanga water levels drop again after last week’s slight improvement
Compared to the same period last year, the report shows a decline of around 10% in water volumes
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) would like to urge the public to be more conservative and use the available water more sparingly and wisely as the country is experiencing a devastating heatwave which is taking its toll on water resources due to high evaporation and very limited rainfall.
The DWS weekly state of reservoirs report of 02 December 2019 shows that water levels in the listed dams and water management areas in the Mpumalanga Province dropped reversing the slight gains of the rain as recorded last week.
According to the report, water levels in Mpumalanga dams on average dropped from last week’s 56.3% to 55.7% and water volumes in the Olifants water management dropped from 46.2% to 45.7% and in the Inkomati-Usuthu catchment the levels dropped from 61.0% to 60.2%.
Compared to the same period last year, the report shows a decline of around 10% in water volumes.
Throughout the Mpumalanga Province, only the Grootdraai and Jericho dams which are in the Gert Sibande District recorded some slight improvement in water volumes.
Grootdraai Dam slightly increased from 53.7% to 53.9% and Jericho Dam recorded a slight increase from 63.9% to 64.0%.
Nooitgedacht, Vygeboom, Westoe and Heyshope dams recorded declines in water volumes with only the Morgenstond Dam remaining unchanged at 36.0% in the Gert Sibande District.
Not a single dam in the Ehlanzeni District recorded an increase in water volumes.
Some of the listed dams recorded declines in water volumes whilst the rest remained unchanged. Longmere, Klipkopjes, Witklip, Primkop and Da Gama dams recorded no changes in water volumes.
Blyderivierpoort, Driekoppies, Kwena, Inyaka and Ohrigstad recorded drops in water volumes. Inyaka Dam recorded the highest drop of 3.5% from last week’s 47.5% to 44.0% and Kwena Dam continued its drop below the 30% mark, dropping further from last week’s 28.5% to 27.3%.
Ohrigstad Dam dropped from last week’s 5.3% to 5.0%.
South Africa is a water scarce country and water security is the responsibility of each and every citizen therefore it is critical that we all work together to conserve and use the available water more productively and wisely and prevent the wastage of this scarce, important and precious resource which has no substitute.
Let us also protect our water infrastructure from vandalism as this also leads to the loss of many litres of precious water.
Let us act against water losses for water security.
