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South Africa’s water situation is improving steadily as rains continue to fill up the dams by at least one percent weekly. A weekly report by the Department of Water and Sanitation shows that dam levels have risen from 60,2% to 61,2% at the beginning of this week.

However, despite the improvement, water scientists have warned against complacency as the country has not reached a situation where it can be assumed that there is enough water in the reservoirs. According to the report, water that is stored in reservoirs stood at 19 580,0 cubic metres, 13 000 cubic metres short of their full capacity.

The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, is confident that with more effort to save water, the country may be in a much better state by the end of the summer hydrological season. She pleaded with water users across the board to continue saving the precious resource.

“I’m appealing to all citizens to double their efforts in water conservation and report leaking taps and burst pipes in their areas for immediate fixing”, Minister Sisulu said.

 Also in the drought-stricken Eastern Cape water levels are making steady progress as dam levels have improved from 46,4% last week to 47,3% early this week. At the height of the drought in large parts of the province, the Provincial Government declared a provincial disaster in order to help affected municipalities in regions such as Chris Hani, Butterworth, Joe Gqabi and Queenstown. At the end of last year the severity of the drought in the province prompted the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to allocate R723 million as part of its intervention for the Financial Years 2018/19/20.

In Limpopo the department will soon begin its work of raising the Tzaneen Dam wall to capacitate the reservoir to store more water for domestic and industrial use. The dam wall raising is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2021. Meanwhile, six dams – Rust de Winter, Tonteldoos, Flag Boshielo, Klaserie, Hans Merensky and Vergelegen are filled to capacity, with three of these exceeding 100%. Hans Merensky rose dramatically from 87,8% last week to 103,5,% this week.

Despite a lack of significant rainfalls in Gauteng in the past week, the province maintained a stable water level at 101%. Bronkhorstspruit Dam, east of Pretoria, has also stabilized at 101%, while the Vaal Dam rose to 76,3% at the beginning of the week.    

Mpumalanga’s water situation is also stable at 73,7%, improving by six percent in comparison to the corresponding period last year. The province has 1 871,8 cubic metres water that is stored in its reservoirs. According to the DWS report, the Inkomati–Usuthu Water Management Agency improved its dam levels from 67,3% to 68% this week. The Blyderivierpoort Dam which is fed by Blyde River, recorded a significant improvement from 62,9% to 75,3% in seven days.

KwaZulu-Natal also realized an improvement of two percent from 54,9% to 56,5%, an improvement of one percent compared to the same period last year. Midmar Dam in the Natal Midlands increased from 90,4 to 90,3% while Nagle Dam rose significantly from 84,5% to 93%. Driel Barrage Dam which is fed by uThukela River rose by three percent to 103,3%. Spioenkop and Woodstock dams in Bergville, recorded 76,2% and 87,4%. It must be noted that vast amounts of rain fell along the coastal belt while inland towns experienced sporadic showers.

The Free State, which hosts some of the biggest dams in the country, recorded one percent improvement from 67,2% to 68,6% in the past week. The province has stored a total 10 736,5 cubic metres of water in its reservoirs. Gariep Dam, the biggest and deepest reservoir in the country, increased by three percent from 66,4% to 69,2% in the past week, whilst Vanderkloof dropped by a percent from 62,2% to 61,2%.

Despite insignificant rainfall last week, dam levels in North West remained stable at 65,8%, an eight percent increase compared to the same period last year. Hartbeespoort Dam in the Madibeng region improved from 97,9% 98,7%. Klipvoor and Swartruggens dam are bursting at the seams at 101,9% and 102,7% respectively. However, the Klein Marico Dam recorded the lowest level in the province at 11,2%, although it improved by a percent since last week.

The absence of rain in major parts of Northern Cape has caused a drop in dam levels from 77,5% to 72,7%. Parts of the province are in the grip of a severe drought, a situation that led to President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing a R300 million relief fund to cushion the effects of the drought in the affected towns. Reservoirs in the province have also dropped water stored in their reservoirs to 107,1%.

Western Cape dam levels are on a downward slide following the province’s dry summer period. The DWS report recorded the province’s levels at 53,8%, a drop from 54,1% in the past week. However, the province is expected to enter its rainy hydrological season in May when downpours are expected to drench large parts of the region.

Issued by the Department of Water & Sanitation