With the Vaal Dam water levels at 107.30% today, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has opened a third sluice gate at 12h00 midday, to increase the outflows to approximately 400 cubic metres per second (mᵌ/s), and to also manage the increase of inflows from upstream due to the ongoing rains.
The current water releases by the 3 sluice gates are still within the safe operational limits and are not expected to lead to overtopping of riverbanks downstream. Grootdraai Dam, located in Mpumalanga in the Upper Vaal River Catchment, which is upstream of Vaal Dam, had 1 sluice gate opened by 1 metre and has now been increased to 1.5 metres to increase the water releases. The Dam is currently sitting at 103.37%. At Bloemhof Dam, water outflows have been temporarily closed today due to maintenance work currently underway. As soon as the maintenance is completed today, water releases will resume and will be staggered over several hours to prevent wave-action flooding downstream.
The increased outflows from Vaal Dam are expected to reach Bloemhof in 3 to 4 days and will result in water levels rising at the Dam. If necessary, these increases will be managed by gradually increasing outflows from the dam. The dam levels are 96.65%.
The Department is implementing these necessary water releases at the dams as part of dam safety precautions to safeguard the infrastructure and ensure that there is full storage capacity after the rainfall season. The DWS is continuously monitoring the water levels in the Vaal River System.
