Limpopo dam levels continue to subside

A weekly report on dam levels issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation has shown another decline in Limpopo water levels from last week’s 90,6% to 90,4% this week. During a similar period last year, the province’s overall storage capacity stood at 87,9%, which is an improvement this year.

This marginal decline, which is due to the rainfall that subsided means that the available water in the province as of this week is at 1337,25 cubic metres out of a full capacity of 1480,06 cubic metres.

The Polokwane Water Supply System with dams supplying water to Polokwane and surrounding areas is currently at 102,1%, a decrease from last week’s 103,4%. Last year this time the system stood at 101,2%.

Tonteldoos Dam remained the same this week and last week, standing at 100,8%. Warmbad Dam also experienced no movement with 101,6% this week and last week. Mokolo Dam also stood still lst week and this week, at 101,5%.

Nandoni Dam subsided from 103%% last week to 102,8% this week. Vondo Dam also saw a dip from last week’s 102% to 101,8% this week. Albasini Dam experienced a minimal drop with 100,2% last week, and this week it is standing at 100,1%. Modjadji Dam dropped significantly with 82,6% last week and 79,9% this week.

Nsami Dam increased from last week’s 81,3% to this week’s 83,1%. Middel-Letaba Dam slightly increased from last week’s 7,7% to this week’s 7,8%. Vlugkraal Dam improved from 99,5% last week, to 100,3% this week. Doorndraai Dam was standing at 99,5% last week, and this week it has improved to 99,9%. Mutshedzi saw a slight improvement, it was 102,2% last week, and this week it is standing at 102,6%.

Here’s a look at this week’s dam level status in some Limpopo dams:

Dam

Status Last Week

Status This Week

Nwanedzi

100,6%

100,8%

Luphephe

101,2%

101,3%

Houtrivier

97,8%

98,7%

Hans Merensky

104,3%

103,9%

The Department continues to warn communities in low lying areas to be cautious as most of the dams are still full. The Department further reiterates its call on citizens to continue using water sparingly, and to also refrain from vandalising water infrastructure in their areas.

Source: Government of South Africa