Sterkfontein Dam to help Gauteng
JOBURG - The Sterkfontein Dam will be used to help the Vaal Dam before it reaches the minimum of 25 per cent.
The Vaal Dam is running dangerously low with the water level at only 26.4 per cent according to Rand Water’s website. Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane announced that her department will release some water from the Sterkfontein dam next week, to protect the 25 per cent minimum level of the Vaal Dam.
According to a report by EWN, the Sterkfontein Dam is sitting at a 91.5 per cent water level. The Vaal River has 14 dams that is used to provide water to Gauteng. Among the dams that make up this system, the Vaal Dam is at the lowest because it evaporates at a faster rate. The levels at the Vaal Dam has decreased by 0.9 per cent on a weekly basis.
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The Sterkfontein Dam holds reserved water and has increased by 0.4 per cent. “We have already started now and will commence with some releases from the Sterkfontein Dam on 7 November. That will allow us to release water in a staggered fashion to start supplementing and augmenting the water that is in the Vaal Dam,” said Mokonyane’s spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase.
He added that people are starting to have some behavioural changes, but a lot still needs to be done. “There is starting to be some response. We must start naming and shaming those who use water unwisely and irresponsibly, we must report them to authorities so that they can start enforcing the law,” said Ndamase.
