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After heavy rain in September, the Kouga community was at the edge of their seats as they waited for the Kouga Dam to overflow for the first time in eight years. Finally, at 19:00 on September 29 the first water began trickling over the dam wall, and by the following day about 55 000 litres per second were flowing over the dam.
As previously reported by the Kouga Express, Rienette Colesky, CEO of Gamtoos Irrigation Board, said that the Kouga Dam has only spilled over 33 times since 1971, with the dam last reaching 100 percent in 2015.
Since then the Kouga Dam levels have never reached full capacity.
Colesky said that they were aware of the warnings of severe rain predicted on September 22 by the South African Weather Services (SAWS), and were fortunate to have heavy rain from September 23 to 25, with Krakeel Hoek receiving 333mm, Tamie 185mm, Krakeel 206mm, and Joubertina 125mm.
In an interesting turn of events, on September 25, the SAWS upgraded their weather warning to Orange level 9 for disruptive rain in Kou-Kamma and Baviaans in the Dr Beyers Naude area, which was expected to continue until September 25 at 22:00.
As part of the severe rain, Colesky said that a cut-off low had moved over the Kouga catchment area, which resulted in a large amount of rain that ultimately flowed into the Kouga Dam.
“A cut-off low is the kind of rain that fills up the Kouga Dam and causes the dam to spill over,” said Colesky.
“If a cut-off low comes to the catchment area, we know that there is a large possibility for the dam to fill up.”
Colesky said that they were also expecting heavy rain on September 25, and by 03:00 the following morning she said that she had received a notification of the amount of rain that had fallen over a certain part of the catchment area.
She said that there was a total of 200mm measured across the catchment area with Krakeel Hoek receiving quite a bit of rain.
Colesky said that Stuurmanskraal, a measuring weir in the Kouga region, peaked at 310 000 litres per second on September 26, and then began declining from the morning of September 27.
She said that by the end of the day on September 27, Stuurmanskraal measured at 198 000 litres per second.
“A 198 000 litres per second travelling to the Kouga Dam is an enormous amount of water,” said Colesky.
She further said that at one point during the heavy downpour which began on September 23, for approximately five hours, about five million cubic metres of water flowed into the Kouga Dam, which equates to about two Loerie Dams.
Colesky said that the Kouga Dam level was at 62 percent on September 26, and because of the run-off from the catchment areas, in a period of 72 hours they were anticipating the dam to overflow.
Finally, as expected, on September 29 at 13:00 the dam level was at 99.33 percent, and by 19:00 the dam began to spill.
By the following day, September 30, the Kouga Dam was at 101.74 percent with over 55 000 litres per second flowing over the dam.
Since then, the Kouga Dam level has continued to rise while water has been spilling steadily.
Colesky said that since the dam levels have risen to above 65 percent, they “consider the drought to be broken”.
Colesky said,
She further said that at 65 percent the restrictions are usually lifted, and agriculture could receive the full water quota.
Colesky said that the farmers in the region are incredibly thankful and humbled by the recent increase in dam levels.
She said that the water extraction restrictions placed on the dam influence farmers and people on a personal level.
“This is one person who needs to put food on the table and have employees depending on them, so a shortage of water is a very personal matter,” said Colesky.
“People feel blessed and relieved. We know that restrictions are a reality, but for now these farmers can farm again, produce, and offer employment. This is a good place to be in.”
“We also hope that we will not have a terrible drought like we have had over the last eight years.”
When asked whether water restrictions on the Kouga Dam would be lifted, Wisane Mavasa, the spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation, said that it is generally accepted that the drought is broken with the excellent dam storage recovery; however, the department’s Water Resource Planning process does not only base its decision on incidents but rather trends.
“In this instance, more data over a longer period to do a trend analysis of the entire Algoa System and scientists study the run-off trends to determine the extent of drought recovery being experienced in the area before consideration is given for the upliftment of the restrictions,” said Mavasa.
“For now, the gradual upward trend is encouraging.”
According to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, as of October 3 the additional dam levels are as follows, Churchill - 100 percent, Impofu - 25.35 percent, Loerie - 100 percent, Groendal - 100 percent.
