Pretoria - The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has rebuffed reports that water levels in De Hoop Dam near Steelpoort, in Limpopo, pose a flood risk.
“The department would like to state categorically that the dam levels at one of our critical installations, the De Hoop Dam near Steelpoort, do not constitute a disaster.
“Contrary to earlier reports, the levels of water in the dam will not lead to the dam wall collapsing and communities being flooded.
“The dam level is currently at 101.4% and there is spillage as should be expected. As the DWS indicated earlier, the continued monitoring of levels in dams and rivers is an on-going exercise. De Hoop Dam is no exception,” said the department’s media liaison director Sputnik Ratau.
The department said even though the dam level is high, there are emergency preparations in place in case of emergency.
“The Limpopo Provincial Disaster Management team is kept abreast of all developments. When and if the need would arise for alarm bells to go off and the necessary evacuations happen, the Disaster Management Team would be the one to raise such alarm early and also take responsibility for any evacuations.
“At the moment, the dam is spilling but there is no danger to the infrastructure itself, communities, farms, or industries downstream,” said Ratau. – SAnews.gov.za
