The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) weekly state of reservoirs report shows that there was on average, a slight improvement on water levels in the listed dams in the Mpumalanga Province.

The report shows that the average dam levels slightly increased from 63.5% to 64.1%.

In the Nkangala District, Witbank Dam dropped from 89.1% to 88.6%, Middelburg Dam dropped from 79.3% to 79.0% and the critically low Rhenosterkop Dam dropped from 1.0% to 0.6% and Loskop Dam remained unchanged at 91.1%.

There are noticeable increases in the Grootdraai Dam in Gert Sibande District from 76.4% to 83.5% and Longmere Dam in Ehlanzeni District from 46.9% to 52.1% as the majority of the listed dams continued to drop. The Buffelskloof Dam in Ehlanzeni District also contributed to the average increase as it recorded a slight increase from 48.5% to 49.6%.

In the Ehlanzeni District, Blyderivierpoort Dam dropped from 84.4% to 82.9%, Driekoppies Dam dropped from 69.7% to 68.8%, Klipkopjes Dam dropped from 12.5% to 9.9%, Witklip Dam dropped from 61.1% to 59.7%, Primkop Dam dropped from 76.5% to 71.0%, Kwena Dam dropped from 39.0% to 37.1%, Inyaka Dam dropped from 49.9% to 49.4%, Ohrigstad Dam dropped from 8.3% to 8.0% and Da Gama Dam remained unchanged at 48.8%.

In the Gert Sibande District, Nooitgedacht Dam dropped from 80.7% to 80.4%, Vygeboom Dam dropped from 77.5% to 76.5%, Jericho Dam dropped from 61.4% to 60.0%, Westoe Dam dropped from 30.1% to 30.0%, Heyshope Dam dropped from 67.1% to 66.8% and Morgenstond Dam remained unchanged at 40.4%.

“In terms of the water management areas (WMA), the Olifants WMA dropped from 59.3% to 59.1% and the Inkomati-Usuthu WMA dropped from 59.7% to 59.1%,” said Mr Sputnik Ratau, a spokesperson from the DWS.

DWS encourages the public to monitor their water use and use the available water wisely in a sparing and conservative manner to ensure supply security as water levels in the listed dams and catchment areas continue to decline. South Africa is a dry and water-scarce country therefore water security depends on our behaviour and actions towards water and water resources.