Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 14-11-2016
A water and environmental expert has told Radio Islam that despite Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni being lashed with heavy rain and storms, it had no significance on the current drought affecting various parts of the country.
At least seven people died and several others were injured by the adverse weather conditions last week with a 3-year-old girl from Alexandra still missing.
Dr Anthony Turton says while other parts of the country have also seen rainfall over the past week it may not be enough to break the grip of the severe drought.
“It had no significant impact at all simply because while the rain was intense in the areas that it fell, it didn’t fall over the whole catchment area of the dam.”
Turton says significantly more rain is required over multiple seasons in the right areas.
“Dams are designed in general to take rainfall over at least a year, but in many cases four, five even up to ten years at a time. So they store the average peak flows over long periods of time and I don’t know any major dam that would fill up in less than three or four years.”
Meanwhile the level of the Vaal Dam has risen, albeit by just a percentage point.
The rise is mainly due to a release of water from the Sterkfontein Dam on Monday.
The torrential rains of the past few days have had no effect on the Vaal Dam due to less rainfall being recorded in the catchment Vaal area.
Preliminary data from the weather service shows the current dam level at 30.72 percent, up from 27.76 percent.
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