Dam levels rise

06 Mar 2020

The weekly NamWater dam bulletin showed a continuous rise in dam levels from the previous week.

The Von Bach, Swakoppoort and Omatako dam levels have risen this week to 113,8 million cubic metres – more than triple the dams' combined volume of 293 million cubic metres a few weeks ago, or their contents of 34,3 million cubic metres of water a year ago, the Namibia Water Corporation reported.

The Von Bach Dam was nearly filled to capacity over the past weekend, and NamWater had to release some water from the dam into the Swakop River. The water released from the Von Bach Dam is set to boost the water level of the Swakoppoort Dam downstream.

The Swakoppoort Dam's water level stood at 69% of its capacity, NamWater reported – a vast improvement from 4,8% two weeks earlier.

The Von Bach Dam's level stood at 99,4%, compared to 38,8% a fortnight ago, while the Omatako Dam was  52% full compared to 18% two weeks ago.

Over the past few weeks, the three dams have received total inflows of 84,5 million cubic metres of water.
The Hardap Dam near Mariental received 65,4 million cubic metres of water over the past two weeks, a boost from 6,5% on 17 February to 28,7%.

The water level of the Oanob Dam near Rehoboth also shot up over the past two weeks to 90,5% of capacity yesterday morning from 46,8%.
Over the past weekend, the Omaruru Delta (Omdel) Dam in the Namib Desert near Henties Bay received a rare inflow of water as well, bringing its level to 3,7%.
Other dam levels reported by NamWater , with the dams' levels a year ago in brackets, are Naute 87% (99,9%), Otjivero Main 16,9% (4%), Otjivero Silt 21,6% (empty), Tilda Viljoen 32,7% (4,3%), Daan Viljoen 69% (4,2%), Friedenau 44,5% (29,5%), Dreihuk 15,4% (1,1%), Bondels 102,8% (empty) and Olushandja 28,5% (20,2%).