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Here is this week’s update from the Department of Water and Sanitation on KwaZulu-Natal‘s dam levels.
- The province’s main water supply system, Umgeni Water Supply System, has shown a slight improvement from 94,9% from last week’s 94,0%.
- Nagle Dam currently stands at 95.5%, an improvement from last week’s 88%.
- Newcastle’s Ntshingwayo (Chelmsford) Dam showed a decline from 73,0% last week to 70% this week.
- Mearns Dam, a previous sore point for the department and the province is out of the red at 101,4% this week. According to the Department, over the past few weeks, levels jumped from just above 50% to 104,0% last week.
- Inanda Dam has increased from 100.9% to 101.1%.
- Spring Grove currently sits at 91.6%, an increase from last week’s 89.3%.
- Midmar Dam’s level saw an improvement, shooting up from last week’s 92.2% to 93.4% this week.
- Albert Falls is up from last week’s 92.4% to 92.6%.
- Spioenkop remains steady at 100.2%.
- Woodstock Dam remains unchanged this week, standing at 85%.
- Zaaihoek Dam’s level is still at 90.6%.
- Wagendrift Dam has seen a decrease, dropping from last week’s 98% to 91.1%.
- Driel Barrage Dam‘s level has remained constant over the past week, at 107.4%.
- Craigie Burn Dam has seen a slight improvement, with the dam level increasing from last week’s 94.5% to 96.2%.
- Goedertrouw Dam level remains unchanged from last week’s 95.9%.
- Klipfontein Dam has seen a minor decline, dropping from last week’s 93.3% to 92.5% this week.
- Hluhluwe Dam has seen an extremely minimal decline, dropping from last week’s 71.4% to this week’s 71.3%.
- Pongolapoort Dam levels have declined from last week’s 77.3% to 77.1% this week.
- Bivane Dam remains unchanged at 91.3%.
- Hazelmere Dam, however, is still below 50%, due to work to raise the dam wall impacting the water level.
The Department’s spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said that the government entity continues to implement bulk water projects in the province to ensure water security.
“The Minister, Senzo Mchunu, and the deputies, continue to work closely with water boards and municipalities to make sure that reticulation is something that is realised. He always emphasises that dams are full, but homes do not have water coming out of the taps, something we see clearly in KZN as most of the dams are near full capacity,” said Ratau.
He added that as temperatures increase, a decline in water levels is to be expected.
“During the early summer, before the rains come, we always see a slight decrease in water levels. We urge communities to use water sparingly during this time as the country is semi-arid and every drop counts,” Ratau concluded.
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