The latest weekly report by the Department of Water and Sanitation shows that dam levels in the Eastern Cape are sitting at 51% after the recent torrential rains.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith more rains expected in the run-up to Christmas, it is likely that the levels may soon soar to 55% and beyond,\u201d the department said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The department said in the past weeks, vast parts of the country have been soaked with torrential rains that have changed the water situation drastically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current heavy downpours have increased Gauteng dam levels by 5%, from 91. 7% to 96.1% since the beginning of December.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increased levels, which include the Vaal Dam, will bring much-needed relief to Gauteng water users,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
Free State tops the charts with its week-on-week dam level improvement, which the report captured at 72.4% this week. The figure reflects a 7% increase compared to the same period last year when the dams stood at 65.2%.<\/p>\n
With the exception of the Western Cape and Limpopo, all provinces registered an increase in dam levels.<\/p>\n
The Western Cape, which has entered a dry hydrological summer season, total dam levels dropped from 77.2% to 76% this week. However, the figure reflects a 16% improvement compared to the corresponding period last year, when the province experienced the worst drought in a century.<\/p>\n
Limpopo dropped slightly from 56.1% to 55.8%. The department said the situation in Mopani and Mogalakwena districts is a great source of concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is virtually no drop in Middel-Letaba Dam, which registered a measly 0.7% this week. The dam supplies Giyani and its sprawling villages. Glen Alpine Dam, which supplies several towns in the Waterberg District, including Mokopane, dropped from 6.5% 5.7% this week,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
The South African Weather Service has, however, predicted thundershowers for most parts of the province, giving hope that the water situation might improve by the end of the week.<\/p>\n
Mpumalanga looks set for a bumper season, as its dams record a 1% rise week-on-week. This week, local dams improved their intake from 63.4% to 64.4%, with 1 635.1 cubic metres of water in reservoir storage.<\/p>\n
KwaZulu-Natal, where soft rains have become a weekly occurrence, is also increasing its dam levels by a percentage point week-on-week. As a result, the dry regions of Zululand and Umkhanyakude are receiving regular rainfalls that have drastically improved their situation.<\/p>\n
The Northern Cape and North West have also benefitted immensely from the current rainfall, with the former recording a significant 7% increase from 87.7% to 94.2%.<\/p>\n
The North West improved slightly from 63.4% to 64.1%. More thundershowers have been predicted in the province this week.<\/p>\n
The Department of Water Sanitation has reiterated its call for water users in rural and peri-urban areas to harvest as much water as they can in the rainy season for future use in the dry winter.<\/p>\n
Water users in urban areas are also urged to use water wisely and sparingly. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The latest weekly report by the Department of Water and Sanitation shows that dam levels in the Eastern Cape are sitting at 51% after the recent torrential rains. \u201cWith more rains expected in the run-up to Christmas, it is likely that the levels may soon soar to 55% and beyond,\u201d the department said on Wednesday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-175321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}