{"id":242695,"date":"2022-11-11T14:08:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T12:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/water-to-be-released-from-pongolapoort-dam\/"},"modified":"2022-11-11T14:08:55","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T12:08:55","slug":"water-to-be-released-from-pongolapoort-dam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/water-to-be-released-from-pongolapoort-dam\/","title":{"rendered":"Water to be released from Pongolapoort Dam"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Department of Water and Sanitation will in the next four weeks release water at the Pongolapoort Dam, popularly known as Jozini Dam, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n

The annual dam water release from the Pongolapoort Dam is part of the department\u2019s operational rule in accordance with the 85% dam safety operational rule.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Friday, the department said the upcoming annual dam water release will start on 14 November 2022 and finish on 13 December 2022.<\/p>\n

The last annual dam water release from Pongolapoort Dam was done in 2014 and it was halted due to drought experienced by the province since 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dam water release normally happens during the October month of every year. In April 2022, the KZN experienced high rainfall that resulted in flooding parts of KZN.<\/p>\n

\u201cRains experienced at the beginning of 2022 resulted in an increase of the dam\u2019s capacity. The continuing water inflows into the dam has caused the dam to rise to 78, 9% of capacity as off this week, and thus the need for the release,\u201d department spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau, said.<\/p>\n

Ratau said water from the dam will be released at the rate of 16 cubic meters per second with a weekly variation depending on the expected inflows.<\/p>\n

The department will continue to monitor the performance of the dam inclusive of all such inflows of the dam.<\/p>\n

With the flood hydrograph and the prevailing initial hydrological conditions on the floodplains, Ratau said, it is estimated that the release will be able to address its objectives.<\/p>\n

While the department will operate and ensure the dam remains safe and operating optimally, it is critical for the communities downstream to be made aware that there is a need for water releases that will lead to possible flooding of their areas of work or habitat.<\/p>\n

He said the department has also consulted the neighbouring country of Mozambique of the initial flood release from the dam.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communities of Jozini and surrounding areas are warned of the high-water volumes emanating from the dam water release. This will lead to an increase of the water levels of the river, filling of the flood plains with a potential impact on low level bridges, subsistence farming, water pumping infrastructure, housing and agriculture,\u201d Ratau said.<\/p>\n

Positive responses to warnings of imminent flooding and necessary evacuation if need will assist in ensuring safety of lives and livelihoods, he said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Water and Sanitation will in the next four weeks release water at the Pongolapoort Dam, popularly known as Jozini Dam, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal. The annual dam water release from the Pongolapoort Dam is part of the department\u2019s operational rule in accordance with the 85% dam safety operational rule. In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242696,"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-242695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/water-to-be-released-from-pongolapoort-dam.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242695","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=242695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}