The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on Tuesday opened a third sluice gate at the Vaal dam to increase water outflows and manage inflows.

The Vaal dam water level is currently at 107.30%, requiring an increase in outflows to 400 cubic metres per second (mᵌ/s), and to manage the increase of inflows from upstream owing to the ongoing rains.

The current water releases by the three sluice gates are still within the safe operational limits and are not expected to lead to overtopping of riverbanks downstream.

At the Grootdraai dam, in Mpumalanga in the Upper Vaal river catchment and upstream of the Vaal dam, one sluice gate was opened from one metre to 1.5 m to increase the water releases. The dam is currently sitting at 103.37%.

Meanwhile, water outflows have been temporarily closed at Bloemhof dam owing to maintenance work currently underway.

However, once work is completed on Tuesday, water releases will resume and will be staggered over several hours to prevent wave-action flooding downstream.

The increased outflows from Vaal dam are expected to reach Bloemhof in three to four days and will result in water levels rising at the dam, which will be managed by gradually increasing outflows from the dam, the water level of which is currently 96.65%.

The department is implementing these necessary water releases at the dams as part of dam safety precautions to safeguard the infrastructure and ensure that there is full storage capacity after the rainfall season.

The DWS is continuously monitoring the water levels in the Vaal river system.