Vaal Dam levels

battmann said:
The Lesotho Highlands, how much are they pumping? Or is this switched off now to force a problem to happen
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Just crossed the ash river. It's nearly bursting banks...
 
Welkom also gets water from the vaal, we got lots of leaks, some running for months already. The cancer muni cannot fix, no money for that, but enough for party. Water affairs was here long time ago, muni said they got a plan, but lost it.
 
@pictures: Didn't realize it was this bad. I mean I knew it was bad but did not expect that.
 
Exactly, who cares if the water runs out. Most of us will just buy beer and soft drinks anyway.

:p
 
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Solarion said:
^ Wall the dam in half and make two smaller ones. ANC logic :D
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Maybe. But they'll call it job creation and try smooth over the blunder.

maumau said:
Fascinates me how people are unaware of how much water they waste.

Washing the driveway with a hose is really irresponsible too. Hate it when I see that.
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It's probable that it is in contravention of the current water restrictions. Eejits!

Sinbad said:
You've got the sea. Don't be greedy
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ToxicBunny said:
We can pump seawater up to you guys if you want?
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You guys call it; desalination will not be that far off if current shortage and global warming continues.
 
Yeah, yeah, thread necro and all that.

Anyone know why Sterkfontein dam is 91.1% full, yet not opening to fill the Vaal dam a little bit? Is it true that the pumps at Sterkfontein has been unmaintained for years, and unable to pump to the Vaal dam?
 
Ho3n3r said:
Yeah, yeah, thread necro and all that.

Anyone know why Sterkfontein dam is 91.1% full, yet not opening to fill the Vaal dam a little bit? Is it true that the pumps at Sterkfontein has been unmaintained for years, and unable to pump to the Vaal dam?
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Vaal evaporates quicker.
 
Ho3n3r said:
yeah, yeah, thread necro and all that.

Anyone know why Sterkfontein dam is 91.1% full, yet not opening to fill the Vaal dam a little bit? Is it true that the pumps at Sterkfontein has been unmaintained for years, and unable to pump to the Vaal dam?
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Not true.

The vaal dam is a highly inefficient dam - with it being shallow and having a large surface area, it loses a lot to evaporation.
eg - with inflow of 40m^3 per second and outflow of 18m^3 per second, the level still drops.

DWAF will only supplement it with water from Sterkfontein when the level is low enough that it is a risk to the discharge pipes etc.
 
HelterSkelter said:
Vaal evaporates quicker.
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OK. I know that. But why are we hearing all the "water shedding imminent" warnings, and that if the level drops below 25%, we will have mainly sludge left that will be damaging the vaal's pumps etc.? Doesn't sound like that's the only reason if you ask me...
 
Ho3n3r said:
OK. I know that. But why are we hearing all the "water shedding imminent" warnings, and that if the level drops below 25%, we will have mainly sludge left that will be damaging the vaal's pumps etc.? Doesn't sound like that's the only reason if you ask me...
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There are no pumps. It's a gate/valve. Gravity fed.
The water shedding imminent thing is because Rand Water can't keep up with demand due to decrepit infrastructure and lack of capacity expansion.
 
Sinbad said:
There are no pumps. It's a gate/valve. Gravity fed.
The water shedding imminent thing is because Rand Water can't keep up with demand due to decrepit infrastructure and lack of capacity expansion.
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Right. Thanks. Also found this statement from 2005 where they said they only release when the Vaal dam is under 16%.

https://twitter.com/AskGregory/status/791684272461647872

So it seems under control in the short term. But yeah, the infrastructure is falling apart. Here in Centurion we have at least a few failed water pipes a day.
 
Eskom is currently utilising the drakensberg pump storage station to transfer water from the tugela river into the vaal system. It was originaly a combined project between Eskom and DWAF.

This water transfer scheme entails the transfer of water from the Tugela River over the Drakensberg Mountains to the Vaal River System to provide for increasing water demand due to urbanisation and
industrialisation in the Gauteng area. Eskom and the then Department of Water Affairs, now the DWS, completed this project in 1982 to serve as a pumped storage scheme for generating electricity and a pumping station to transfer water from Woodstock Dam in KwaZulu-Natal to Sterkfontein Dam in the Free State. Water is released by DWS from Sterkfontein Dam to support the Vaal Dam. Eskom has transferred approximately 57.6 million cubic metres (m3) since 1 May 2016 until 31 August 2016. The targeted water transfer is at least 285 million m3 per water resources planning year (1 May to 30 April) until the Vaal River system is stabilised.
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I thought that it's pissing with rain in Gauteng? Our office in Meadowdale flooded the other day. Is it not raining in the right areas, just not enough yet to sort out the damn levels or is the rate of evaporation (and loss) exceeding the inflow (as Sinbad alluded to)?
 
Agent_Smith said:
I thought that it's pissing with rain in Gauteng? Our office in Meadowdale flooded the other day. Is it not raining in the right areas, just not enough yet to sort out the damn levels or is the rate of evaporation (and loss) exceeding the inflow (as Sinbad alluded to)?
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http://www.reservoir.co.za/

Lots of info there.
 
Agent_Smith said:
I thought that it's pissing with rain in Gauteng? Our office in Meadowdale flooded the other day. Is it not raining in the right areas, just not enough yet to sort out the damn levels or is the rate of evaporation (and loss) exceeding the inflow (as Sinbad alluded to)?
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Not raining in the right catchment area.
 
There is a drought, yes, but the dam levels are being used as propaganda to drive up prices and obfuscate other issues that contribute to supply problems etc.
 
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