Key KwaZulu-Natal water reservoirs holding strong despite minor weekly declines
Several of KwaZulu-Natal’s key dams supplying the Durban region have recorded slight drops in water levels compared to last week, but remain comfortably above the 80% mark.
According to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Provincial State of Dams report released this September 2025, the Pongolapoort, Inanda, Albert Falls, Midmar, and Nagle dams are all sitting at healthy levels.
Pongolapoort Dam on the Phongolo River, the province’s largest reservoir with a full storage capacity (FSC) of 2 395.3 million cubic metres, is at 94.0%, slightly down from 94.3% last week.
The Inanda Dam, which forms part of the Umgeni Water system supplying Durban, has also seen a small decrease. It dropped from 99.6% last week to 99.3% this week. In the same period last year, it stood at 95.5%.
Mgeni system remains strong
The broader Mgeni system, which includes the Albert Falls, Midmar and Nagle dams, continues to hold strong, ensuring water security for the Durban-Pietermaritzburg corridor.
Albert Falls Dam is at 95.3%, down from 96.2% last week, but significantly higher than the 82.8% recorded a year ago.
Midmar Dam has dipped slightly from 95.2% to 94.7%.
Nagle Dam, which has the smallest capacity of the five at 23.3 million cubic metres, edged up slightly from 84.8% to 85.1%, although it was fuller this time last year at 100.1%.
ALSO READ: Here’s how full Cape Town’s dams are
Chatsworth water woes
Water remains a big issue in the province, with a recent protest in Chatsworth over outages.
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said the issue was linked to illegal water connections on a standby line running from Chatsworth 04 to Chatsworth 02.
“We can confirm that this line is currently isolated due to the high-risk conditions at the site and ongoing safety assessments,” said Sisilana.
She explained that a team of bulk welders and the City’s Health and Safety Officer assessed the site but found conditions unsafe for immediate repair work.
Raw sewage was found in the stream where the standby line is located due to toilets discharging directly into the stream.
Sisilana said limited access to the pipeline and the inability to get welding vehicles close enough posed further challenges.
The city is considering rerouting the line to a safer location.
In the meantime, three static water tanks have been installed in the area to improve access to water.
“The municipality discourages illegal connection to water and sanitation infrastructure,” Sisilana added.
“This poses a risk to human life and property, causes water outages, damages infrastructure and raises costs for paying customers.”
