Johannesburg - According to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s hydrological monitoring and forecasting system, for the first time in four days there has been a decrease in water inflow from upstream the Vaal River into the Vaal Dam.
According to the DWS, the 12 opened sluice gates will remain open, and the water outflow at Bloemhof Dam will be kept at 3 200m³ per second to allow the water levels in the dams to be at their required capacity.
The Vaal Dam is currently 119% full, while Bloemhof Dam is at 109.67%, the department said.
Acting Director-General of Water Infrastructure at DWS Leonardo Manus said the dam level was still too high and needed to be lowered.
“We will not be reducing the outflow by closing the gates as yet, because the dam level is still too high and needs to be lowered quickly to open more flood absorption capacity,” said Manus.
Manus said that there would be no interruption of the water outflow at the dam because the analysis indicated that it would start to level off and decrease in approximately two days.
“The water outflow will be reviewed in a few days, as it will be determined by the inflow into the river system. But as of now the water levels are still high and the water discharge from the dam will continue.”
The department also said that water discharge at Bloemhof Dam would remain at 3 200m³ per second because its level was continuing to rise sharply due to the volume of water flowing from the Vaal River upstream into the lower Vaal system.
“The department still calls on the communities residing closer to the Vaal and Orange river systems to exercise caution, as the water levels remain high due to the continuing heavy rains.”
The Star