With the arrival of winter and the absence of rain comes the inevitable decline in the province’s dam levels.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s weekly state of reservoirs, the average water levels in the listed dams in the province dropped from 85,7 per cent to 85,4 per cent over the week, resulting in 2 168,7 cubic metres of water in storage out of the required full capacity of 2 538,6 cubic metres.

In the water management areas (WMA), the Olifants WMA dropped from 78,6 per cent to 78,2 per cent and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA dropped from 91,6 per cent to 91,3.
Even though the water levels in the province continue to drop, there are still dams above the 100 per cent mark, mostly in the Lowveld.

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Blyderivierpoort and Kwena dams remained unchanged at 100,3 per cent and 100,1 per cent respectively. Buffelskloof dropped from 100,2 per cent to 100,1 per cent and Primkop dropped from 100,4 per cent to 100,2.

Klipkoppie increased from 99,8 per cent to 100 per cent and Witklip increased from 100,1 per cent to 100,2. Vygeboom Dam in the Gert Sibande District dropped from 100,6 per cent to 100,3.
Longmere Dam dropped from 98,7 per cent to 98,5, Da Gama from 99,8 per cent to 98,4, Inyaka from 86,5 per cent to 86,2 and Ohrigstad from 76 per cent to 74,5.

The department encouraged water users to be wise and conservative in their water use during the dry winter season to ensure that there is enough water for everyone until the next rainy season.