Vaal Dam officially full at 5pm Monday — and it's not over yet

As rain falls and grey clouds leave Gauteng residents in a funk, there has been a flood of good news from the downpours: for the first time since 2017 the Vaal Dam is full.

This time a year ago, the dam was at just 57%.

Water and sanitation department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said that the dam reached its 100% capacity about 5pm on Monday.

“With the strong inflows, the integrated Vaal river system continues to recharge, with the example of the Vaal Dam reaching 100% at 5pm on Monday, February 8,” said Ratau.

The last time the dam was at 100% capacity was in early 2017 and, according to a tweet from Johannesburg Water, the last time it was this full before then was “six years ago”.

What was of greater pleasure, said Ratau, was that the filling up of the Vaal Dam was not happening in isolation.

“The dams in Gauteng also continue to recharge considerably, but the main source of contentment is based on the fact that the catchment, whose tributaries feed the integrated Vaal river system, have had hefty recharges. Even the two dams in the Mountain Kingdom [Lesotho], Katse and Mohale, are recovering,” said Ratau.

According to Rand Water, the Sterkfontein Dam was at 96.6% as of February 3, the Grootdraai Dam at 105.1% on February 4, and the Bloemhof Dam 102.9%, also on February 4.

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