Water levels in the country remain a concern

22 March 2018

The recent dam levels report by the Department of Water and Sanitation has indicated a national increase of the water supply systems from 64% last week to 65.4% this week. This is still a sharp decline compared to this time last year when the dam levels were at 74.7%.

However, three provinces (Eastern, Western and Northern Cape) remain National Disaster areas as announced by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs last month due to low water levels.

In Eastern Cape, the area of Nelson Mandela Bay continues to be a concern, with Algoa Supply System with 5 dams that feed into Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas is at a low of 25.1%, a decline from last week’s 25.4%. This is becoming a major concern because the system is showing a consistent decline compared to the same period last year when the system was still at a meagre 46%. The Amathole system which entails 6 dams serving Buffalo City has seen the highest increase this week from 84.8% last week to 88.9% this week.

The Cape Town dam system, which serves mainly the City of Cape Town, has also decreased by 0.4% from 22.7% last week to 22.3% this week. The water consumption figures in the province have also increased by 54 million litres per day from last weeks recorded low of 511 million litres per day.

The Umngeni dam system, which serves mainly eThekwini and Mzinduzi saw an increase of 1.7% from 67.4% last week to 68% this week. The Polokwane system has decreased by 0.6% from 52.6% last week to 52.0% this week. The Bloemfontein water supply system saw an increase from 38.7% to 39.4% this week.

The Department of Water and Sanitation hopes that with the further water saving by the public, adherence of the water restrictions and  the anticipated heavy rainfall over eastern parts of South Africa from 22 -23 March might see an increase in the dam levels.

The South African Weather Service (SWAS) has however requested the public to be cautious as the heavy rainfall may lead to localised flooding in the eastern parts of the Free State, North-West, Gauteng, highveld areas of Mpumalanga and in KwaZulu-Natal. The heavy rain may also persist in Gauteng western parts of Mpumalanga, eastern parts of North-West as well as the eastern parts of the Free State on Friday, 23rd March.

Issued by Sputnik Ratau, Director Media Liaison, Department of Water and Sanitation, 22 March 2018