The Ehlanzeni District recorded no drop in water volumes in the listed dams whilst recording some major improvements and a few dams remaining unchanged.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report of 17 February 2020, the Mpumalanga Province recorded an increase from last week’s 74.4% to 75.2% and in terms of the water management areas (WMA), the Olifants WMA increased from 65.0% to 68.0% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA increased from 69.4% to 70.3%. Despite the slight average increase, most listed dams in the Gert Sibande District recorded declines in water volumes.

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According to the report, major improvements in the Ehlanzeni District were recorded in the Blyderivierpoort Dam which recorded a 14.5% increase jumping from 86.2% to 100.7%, the Witklip Dam recorded a 4.9% increase from 73.5% to 78.4%, the Kwena Dam increasing by 3.7% from 42.6% to 46.3% and the Inyaka Dam recording a 3.5% increase from 50.6% to 54.1%. Elsewhere in the district, Driekoppies Dam increased from 65.4% to 66.7%, Da Gama

Dam increased from 55.4% to 56.8%, Ohrigstad Dam increased from 7.1% to 9.3%.
Longmere, Klipkopjes and Primkop dams remained unchanged at 70.2%, 17.3% and 37.1% respectively.

The majority of listed dams in the Gert Sibande District recorded drops in water volumes with only the Morgenstond Dam slightly improving from 43.3% to 43.7% and the Vygeboom Dam remaining unchanged at 100.9%.

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The dams that dropped in water volumes include the Grootdraai dam dropping from 100.6% to 100.2%, Nooitgedacht Dam dropping from 100.7% to 99.4%, Jericho Dam dropping from 78.2% to 78.1%, Westoe Dam dropping from 63.0% to 61.8% and the Heyshope Dam dropping from 82.9% to 82.6%.

Witbank Dam is the only dam that recorded a decline in water volumes in the Nkangala District, dropping from 98.4% to 97.6%. Middelburg Dam increased from 94.3% to 95.6% and Loskop Dam increased from 100.6% to 100.7%. Rhenosterkop Dam remained unchanged at the critically low level of 2.2%.

The Department of Water and Sanitation would like to re-emphasize the importance of water conservation and remind the public that South Africa is a water-scarce and dry country which makes each and every drop more important for water security. The Department, therefore, encourages the public to be more conservative and use the available water more wisely and sparingly.