Witbank Dam water levels drop below 100%

After weeks hovering above the 100% mark, the dam recorded a drop from last week’s 100.1% to 99.5% as recorded in the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report of June 22.

This translates to 103.54 cubic metres of water out of the required full capacity of 104.02 cubic metres. The report also shows that the water situation in the Witbank Dam is much better than the same period last year when the dam level stood at 85.1%.

“Overall in the Mpumalanga Province, the average water levels in the listed dams dropped by 0.1% from last week’s 73.5% to 73.4% and the water management areas (WMA) also recorded 0.1% declines, with the Olifants WMA dropping from 67.4% to 67.3% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA dropping from 71.1% to 71.0%.

“The report simply means there is currently 1864.3 cubic metres of water in the listed dams in the Mpumalanga Province out of the required full capacity of 2538.6 cubic metres.

“The water levels continue to decline but the situation is currently better than the same period last year when the listed dam’s average stood at 71.5%,” said Mr Themba Khoza, DWS communications officer.

Elsewhere in the Nkangala District, Middelburg Dam dropped from 94.4% to 93.9%, Rhenosterkop Dam remained unchanged at 2.1% and Loskop Dam is the only listed dam that stayed above 100% and recorded an improvement, increasing from 100.1% to 100.3%.

DWS urges the public to continue using water wisely, sparingly and more conservatively to ensure reliable and sustainable water supply to everyone in our water-scarce country, especially as it plays a crucial role in curbing the spread of Covid-19.