No immediate threat of river flooding - dept

ALTHOUGH the Vaal Dam has reached its full capacity and is currently 104.4 percent full, there is little chance at this stage of the Vaal River flooding at Riverton outside Kimberley.

The last time the dam was this full was in February last year.

Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau, says that the recent rain has added to the Vaal Dam.

“We’re still in a very comfortable situation and there is no need to do any releases, especially considering that we’re reaching the end of our rainy season,” said Ratau.

According to a weekly report by the DWS, there has been a significant improvement recently in the rainfall that has led to the overflow of several dams across South Africa over the past two weeks.

“The rain was soft but intense, enough to soak the soil and replenish groundwater for basic use,” the department stated.

Improvements in the past two weeks have been noticed in most provinces. The report shows that national average dam levels have increased significantly from 70.5 percent last week to 75.2 percent this week.

The Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), consisting of 14 dams (including the Vaal) that serve Gauteng, Sasol and Eskom, increased from 83.5 percent to 87.6 percent.

The system was at 86.8 percent during the same time last year, while the average dam levels in the Northern Cape stand at 82.2 percent, an increase of 0.9 percent from 81.3 percent last week.

Vaalharts was recorded at 91.1 percent, a decrease from 94.6 percent last week.

Yesterday the inflow into the Vaal Dam was 321 cumecs (cubic metres per second) while the outflow was 16 cumecs.

According to the Department of Water Affairs’ website, the level of the Vaal Dam is expected to rise to 109 percent by next week.

The Bloemhof Dam meanwhile is 90.8 percent full, with an inflow of 126 cumecs and an outflow of 12 cumecs.

On the Orange River the Gariep Dam is 99.7 percent full, with an inflow of 559 cumecs and an outflow of 644 cumecs, while Vanderkloof Dam is 67.9 percent full, with an inflow of 669 cumecs and an outflow of 52 cumecs.

In February last year, the Department of Water Affairs was forced to release water from the Bloemhof Dam due to the rising levels. As a result, the Vaal River near Kimberley rose by about 2.5m, covering the grass on the banks of the Riverton Resort.

According to the Northern Cape Weather Service, rainfall in most parts of the Province were below average for March. The only areas that recorded above average rainfall were Kamieskroon (20mm), Onseepkans (26mm), Pofadder (43mm), Severn (44mm), Stenkopf (18mm), Twee Rivieren 46mm and Vioolsdrift (14mm).

The Weather Service only recorded 37mm for Kimberley, which is 59 percent of the average March rainfall of 63mm. However, residents who have rain gauges in their gardens indicated that the rainfall figure for the month was far higher.

Vaalharts had the highest rainfall for the month with 157mm measured in the town, while Kuruman had 109mm of rain.