South Africa’s dams are 92% full, according to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s records. The department reports on its website that the dams were only 65% full this time last year.
This week, dam levels in the provinces ranged from overflowing in the Northern Cape to 72% full in Limpopo.
Levels recorded in each province are: Eastern Cape, 89%; Free State, 96%; Gauteng, 99%; KwaZulu-Natal, 85%; Limpopo, 72%; Mpumalanga, 93%; North West, 74%; Northern Cape, 101%; and Western Cape, 85%. Lesotho’s dams are 91% full.
The coastal regions have had heavy rains recently, from the southern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal, although the dams in these provinces are not the fullest in the country.
Five of the country’s six biggest dams are in the Free State and they are all nearly full.
The Free State’s dams include: the massive Gariep Dam on the Orange River, with a full storage capacity of 5 340-million cubic metres, now 92% full; the Vanderkloof Dam on the Orange, now 97% full; the Sterkfontein Dam on the Nuwejaar Spruit, now 99% full; the Vaal Dam, 97% full; and the Bloemhof Dam on the Vaal River, which is 106% full.
The other big dam is KwaZulu-Natal’s Pongolapoort Dam, which is 77% full.
These six dams between them comprise more than half of the total dam capacity in country.
Lesotho’s Katse Dam also supplies South Africa and is another huge dam. It is 95% full, compared with 51% in August last year.
The department records the levels of 145 dams in South Africa and Lesotho on its website.
In the Eastern Cape, 14 of the 23 dams are overflowing and another five are more than 90% full. The biggest is the Mthatha Dam, which is 86% full.
In Gauteng, the Roodeplaat Dam on the Pienaars River is 99% full. It is the only dam in the province recorded.
In KwaZulu-Natal, four of the 16 dams are overflowing and another 10 are more than 90% full. The biggest dams are the Pongolapoort Dam (77% full), the Woodstock Dam on the Tugela River (96%) and the Goedertrouw Dam on the Mhlatuze River (90%).
In Limpopo, four of the 12 dams are overflowing and another three are more than 90% full.
In Mpumalanga, nine of the 24 dams are overflowing and another seven are more than 90% full. The biggest is the Heyshope Dam on the Assegaai River, which is overflowing.
In the North West, four of the 19 dams are overflowing and another seven are more than 90% full.
In the Northern Cape, three of the four dams are overflowing and the fourth is 87% full.
In the Western Cape, 16 of the 27 dams are overflowing and another seven are more than 90% full. The biggest is the Theewaterskloof Dam at Riviersonderend, which is 79% full. — Sapa