Rains not enough for Vaal Dam
Vaal Dam levels stay just above 25 per cent despite heavy storms.
Although torrential rains have caused floods that have stopped traffic, claimed lives and destroyed homes, the rain has not done much for the Vaal Dam.
However, the levels seem to be slowly increasing if Johannesburg receives more rain. The Department of Water and Sanitation recorded the level at 26.7 per cent on 11 November. As per Rand Water’s latest update on 10 November, the Vaal Dam sat at 26.5 per cent with only 1.2 mm of rain captured.
Gauteng Weather’s Twitter page tweeted the dam was at 26.21 per cent on 9 November. A total of 6mm of rain was recorded but 5.5mm was lost to evaporation.
According to a release by the department, water was released from the Sterkfontein Dam, which according to Rand Water sits at 91.7 per cent, into the Vaal Dam from 7 November.
The water flows from the Sterkfontein Dam into the Nuwejaarspruit, then into the Wilge River which feeds the Vaal. The release of the water from the reserve storage as the Sterkfontein Dam is, forms part of the process of managing the dam level at the Vaal to stay at or above 25 per cent of capacity. This process is envisaged to be over 54 days till the end of December.
