Vaal’s third sluice gate reopened as rains continue
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has reopened a third sluice gate at the Vaal dam and increased outflows at Bloemhof dam owing to high inflows amid heavy rainfall.
The DWS closed the third sluice gate last week, leaving two open to manage the water inflows at the dam, which had water levels of 108.4% on Wednesday.
However, continued rainfall necessitated its reopening to increase the outflow from 299.59 cubic metres per second (m3/s) to an estimated 400 m3/s, to manage the current inflow of 943 m3/s.
A fourth sluice gate at the dam could possibly be reopened should the inflows continue to increase.
At Bloemhof dam, water outflows were also increased incrementally from 500 m3/s to 800 m3/s in anticipation of the measured incoming flows upstream.
Bloemhof dam, which had water levels of 106.71%, is experiencing inflows of 640 m3/s, which is expected to rise over the next day, with potential plans to further increase releases on Thursday.
Meanwhile, all the sluice gates at Grootdraai dam remain closed, and the storage capacity is still at 104.92%, with inflows of 32.44 m³/s.
The controlled water releases at both the dams have led to overtopping of riverbanks downstream, resulting in flooding that has affected settlements that are in the lower-lying areas within the one in 100-year floodline, the DWS said.
“People living within the floodline of the Vaal River downstream of the Vaal and Bloemhof Dams and have evacuated should continue to avoid the flooded areas as the river catchment remains oversaturated.”
With more rainfall predicted in the upper Vaal catchment, the DWS will continue to monitor inflow water levels in the Integrated Vaal River System to ensure that necessary precautions are in place in line with dam safety standards and hydrological monitoring systems to safeguard infrastructure and attenuate any flood conditions.
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