The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) encourages the public who are water users to continue using the available water wisely and in a more conservative manner as water levels continue to drop in the listed dams and water catchment areas in the Mpumalanga Province.
The majority of the listed dams in the province continued to drop in water volumes with Klipkopjes and Inyaka dams in the Ehlanzeni District remaining unchanged.
This week’s DWS weekly state of reservoirs report issued on 02 August 2021 shows that the average water levels in the listed dams in the Mpumalanga Province stand at 82.6% which is a 0.5% drop from last week’s 83.1%. The report also shows that the water management areas (WMA) also continue to record drops in water volumes with the Olifants WMA dropping from 76.0% to 75.5% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA dropping from 89.6% to 89.3%. This is much better than the same period last year when the average levels stood at 70.9%, the Olifants WMA at 67.6% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA at 67.7%.
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The report shows that in the Ehlanzeni District and Lowveld, Primkop Dam is at 100.0%. Blyderivierpoort, Buffelskloof, Driekoppies, Klipkopjes, Witklip, Kwena, and Da Gama dams are all above 90%. Longmere and Inyaka dams are above 80% and Ohrigstad Dam is at 63.9%.
In Gert Sibande District, Nooitgedacht and Vygeboom dams are above 90%, Grootdraai, Morgenstond and Heyshope are above 80%, Jericho above 70% and Westoe is above 60%.
In Nkangala District, Witbank and Loskop dams are above 90%, Middelburg Dam above 80% and Rhenosterkop Dam at 8.0%.
In as much as the water levels still look stable and much better than last year, DWS would like to remind the public that South Africa is a dry and water scarce country which makes every drop count, therefore it is everybody’s responsibility to use water sparingly and to protect the water resources from pollution to ensure water security for the current and future generations.
