Central SA
Vaal Dam opens four sluice gates─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 15:52 Mon, 03 Jan 2022
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) opened two additional sluice gates of the Vaal Dam this morning, to assist with flood management of the dam.
According to the Director for Media Liaison at the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Sputnik Ratau, the Vaal Dam was at 107.4% on Friday, and this morning it was 111.4%.
There is now a total of 4 sluice gates opened, and they will remain opened until further activity is required.
Opening the four gates will protect the infrastructure from collapsing.
“There is a lot of water coming in from the rivers. The Vaal Dam is part of the integrated Vaal river system, which is a system that includes 14 dams. There is a possibility that the dam could fail, and if it fails, there would be a catastrophe downstream of the dam, where flooding would happen. It will not just be flooding of the river - it will also include flooding of the communities downstream, whether it will be farmers or people living in the community.” Ratau further explains.
OFM News
