The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS’s) weekly dam level report, released on Thursday, shows stability in the national water reservoirs.
The average water levels increased marginally from 65.9% last week to the current 66.2%; however, the water levels had declined from the levels of 69.3% reported in the same period last year.
Dam levels in Gauteng, the Free State and Mpumalanga have increased “drastically” to 96%, 74.6% and 74.3% respectively, and are on the verge of reaching their capacity, the DWS said in the weekly update.
The Bon Accord dam recorded one of the highest levels in the country at 100.9%, while the Gariep dam’s levels increased from 81.1% last week to 83.9% this week.
The Vanderkloof dam decreased week-on-week from 66.5% to 66.3%, Krugersdrift increased to 48% this week from 47.9% last week and the Buffelskloof dam increased from 79.2% to 93.7% this week.
In the Eastern Cape, the Amathole integrated system, which has six dams that serve East London, maintained their stability at 63.1%.
Haartebeespoort dam, in the North West, is almost running full at 96.1%, while Ngotwane is at 62%.
Torrential rains in KwaZulu-Natal have increased dam levels from 61.4% to 62.4%. The Umgeni integrated dam system, which comprises five dams that serve eThekwini and Msunduzi in Pietermaritzburg, increased from 67.6% to 68.4%.