The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report from 5 August, shows that the water in storage in the province recorded a 0.8% decline from last week’s 69.0% to 68.2%, which simply translates to 1731.5 cubic litres.

Water levels also continue to drop in the water management areas (WMA), with the Olifants WMA dropping from 58.1% to 57.1%, and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA dropping from 72.4% to 71.7%.

In comparison to the other provinces, Mpumalanga still stands at number four behind Gauteng, the Free State and the Northern Cape, in terms of water availability in the country.

The greater majority of all the listed dams in the Mpumalanga Province recorded declines in water volumes, except for the Jericho Dam, which recorded a slight increase from 61.7% to 61.9%, and the Witbank, Westoe and Da Gama Dams, which remained unchanged at 83.9%, 66.5% and 67.4% respectively.

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In the Nkangala District, the listed dams remain above 80%, with the Witbank Dam unchanged at 83.9%, Middelburg Dam dropping from 88.7% to 87.1%, and Loskop Dam dropping from 87.8% to 86.6%.

All the other listed dams in the district recorded declines in water volumes, with Grootdraai Dam dropping from 66.5% to 65.6%, Nooitgedacht Dam dropping from 87.2% to 86.6%, Vygeboom Dam dropping from 98.5% to 96.6%, Heyshope Dam dropping from 82.9% to 82.5% and Morgenstond Dam dropping from 48.0% to 46.4%.

The Department of Water and Sanitation encourages the public to continue using water wisely and more conservatively, as the water levels are lower than the levels recorded during the same period last year.

“Climate change is upon us and is a factor for serious consideration. This calls for all of us to be more conservative in our water use, as we are not sure and cannot predict how much rain we will receive in the upcoming summer’s rainy season”.

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