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The Vaal Dam on the border of Gauteng and the Free State.
- Summer rains have improved dam levels in seven of the country’s provinces, according to the weekly report from the Department of Water and Sanitation.
- Gauteng Dam levels are at 96%.
- Dam levels in Limpopo and the Western Cape fell slightly, with the latter entering a dry summer season.
Dams in the Eastern Cape have reached 51% capacity after months of dry conditions in the province, says the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The department’s weekly report showed that dam levels have risen in the past two weeks due to torrential summer rains. Levels at the Gauteng Dam increased from 91.7% to 96.1% since the beginning of December.
“Rising levels, which includes the Vaal Dam, will provide much-needed relief to Gauteng users who were concerned about the low-level condition of the dam in early summer,” the department said in a statement.
READ | Cape Town’s dams reach 90% for the first time in 2020
Free State dams were at 72.4% this week. The figure reflected a 7% increase over the same period last year, when the levels of the dams stood at 65.2%. Only two provinces, Limpopo and the Western Cape, saw a drop in dam levels from 56% to 55% and from 77% to 76%, respectively.
However, the Western Cape was emerging from “the worst drought in a century” and had just entered a dry hydrological summer season, the department said.
Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Northwest, and the Northern Cape also recorded higher rainfall and higher levels of dams, with Northwest dam levels reaching 94.2%.
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