Third sluice gate opened at Vaal
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on Tuesday opened a third sluice gate at the Vaal dam to increase water outflows and manage inflows.
The Vaal dam water level is currently at 107.30%, requiring an increase in outflows to 400 cubic metres per second (mᵌ/s), and to manage the increase of inflows from upstream owing to the ongoing rains.
The current water releases by the three sluice gates are still within the safe operational limits and are not expected to lead to overtopping of riverbanks downstream.
At the Grootdraai dam, in Mpumalanga in the Upper Vaal river catchment and upstream of the Vaal dam, one sluice gate was opened from one metre to 1.5 m to increase the water releases. The dam is currently sitting at 103.37%.
Meanwhile, water outflows have been temporarily closed at Bloemhof dam owing to maintenance work currently underway.
However, once work is completed on Tuesday, 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 three to four days and will result in water levels rising at the dam, which will be managed by gradually increasing outflows from the dam, the water level of which is currently 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.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
FlameBlock is a proudly South African company that engineers, manufactures and supplies fire intumescent and retardant products to the fire...
VISIT SHOWROOM
We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
