The Department of Water and Sanitation has closed two more sluice gates at the Vaal Dam on Friday, as the water levels continue to decrease.
According to the department, the first one opened at 10:00 and the second gate at 16:00 on Friday afternoon, leaving only four gates open.
As of Friday, the dam was at 113.25% with inflows of 492.92 cubic metres per second.
“A briefing by the South African Weather Services indicated that it is projected that during the upcoming dry winter season, the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) area will receive below average rainfall.
“To secure a reliable water supply for Gauteng and the surrounding areas, the department will transition from flood management in managing water releases for the Vaal Dam to maximising water supply availability. This will be done by ensuring the outflows are reduced via closing the remaining gates within the next few days. The dam will return to normal operations once the levels are between 107% and 110%,” said the department spokesperson, Wisane Mavasa.
At Bloemhof, the 2400 cubic metres per second releases were reduced to 2100 cubic metres per second at 12:00 by midday on Friday.
There are five radial gates open, and they are releasing water at different capacities to achieve the targeted discharge.
The water levels in the dam are at 113.09% as on Friday morning.
“At Grootdraai Dam, water inflows also decreased to 88.3 cubic metres per second with the storage level at the dam currently at 102.58%,” explained Mavasa.
Meanwhile, Orange River, the Gariep and the Vandekloof Dams were sitting at 108.70% and 108.31% respectively and still spilling.
Mavasa said together with the discharges from Bloemhof Dam, it leads to rising water levels in the Lower Orange River, affecting settlements along the river up to Upington in the Northern Cape.
The Department has warned residents living along downstream to heed the flood and evacuation warnings by authorities.
“People living within the floodline and along these rivers and have had to evacuate should continue to avoid the flooded areas as the river catchments remain oversaturated.
“The controlled and uncontrolled water releases at all these dams are leading to overtopping of riverbanks downstream of the Orange and the Vaal Rivers, resulting in flooding of settlements that are in the lower-lying areas within the 1 in 100-year floodline,” appealed Mavasa.
