Water levels in the Mpumalanga continue to drop but remain stable above 80%. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report of 23 August 2021 shows that the average water levels in the province slightly dropped from 81.5% last week to 80.9% this week which is higher than the water volumes during the same period last year when water levels were at 69.3%.
Water levels in the Water Management Areas (WMA) also continue to drop with the Olifants WMA dropping from 74.4% to 73.9% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA down from 88.2% to 87.7%. Even though the water levels continue to drop in the catchments, the situation is much better than the 66.0% recorded in both water management areas at the same time last year.
The majority of the listed dams in the Ehlanzeni District and the Lowveld are still above 90% even though they continue to record declines in water volumes. The Klipkopjes Dam remain unchanged at 99.2% in the midst of declines in the other dams. Blyderivierpoort Dam dropped from 95.8% to 94.5%, Buffelskloof from 92.0% to 90.2%, Driekoppies from 98.8% to 98.5%, Longmere from 78.1% to 75.9%, Witklip from 94.7% to 94.0%, Primkop from 95.3% to 93.5%, Kwena from 96.8% to 95.8%, Da Gama from 96.0% to 95.1%, Inyaka from 82.3% to 81.8% and Ohrigstad from 60.7% to 59.2%.
Read: Good news for Northern Cape Residents as Water Levels Continue to Rise
In the Gert Sibande District, Nooitgedacht Dam slightly increased from 94.8% to 95.1% and Heyshope Dam remained unchanged at 84.5%. On the decline mode, Grootdraai Dam dropped from 81.1% to 79.9%, Vygeboom from 94.9% to 93.9%, Jericho from 72.3% to 71.4%, Westoe from 60.1% to 58.2% and Morgenstond from 84.1% to 84,0%.
All the listed dams in the Nkangala District continue to drop with the Witbank Dam dropping from 90.7% to 90.5%, Middelburg from 84.5% to 83.9%, Loskop from 93.1% to 92.4% and Rhenosterkop from 7.8% to 7.7%.
The Department of Water and Sanitation urges the public to be wise water users and use the available water in a sparing and conservative manner as every drop counts in our water scarce Department of Water and Sanitation South Africa DWS_RSA South Africa. DWS also encourages the public to minimize unnecessary water losses by preventing the vandalism of water infrastructure.
