Less than half of the water released from the Berg River is expected to make it to Misverstand Dam - mayor
24 April 2018
Less than two million of the five million cubic metres of water released from the Berg River Dam into the Misverstand Dam is expected to make it to its destination, Saldanha Bay Local Municipality mayor Marius Koen said on Tuesday.
Water started trickling into the dam near Moorreesburg on Monday, just a day before April 24, when its water supply was expected to run out.
Koen said it would only determine how long the supply was expected to last once all the water had arrived.
It was estimated that about 3 million cubic metres would be lost to obstructions and absorption into the dry riverbeds, Koen said.
"It bubbles as it sinks into the dry ground," he explained.
Before the water started flowing into the Misverstand Dam, it was only 10.4% full, Koen said.
The Department of Water and Sanitation released more than five million cubic metres of water from the Berg River Dam over a 10-day period, via a pipe that leads to the Wemmershoek control works.
This dam supplies municipalities in the West Coast with water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use, the department said.
News24 last week reported that, should the Misverstand Dam run dry, Saldanha would have to get water from the Voëlvlei Dam, which supplies 22 other West Coast towns, leaving them enough to last until the end of the month.
