Hardap Dam passes 40% mark

THE Hardap Dam near Mariental – the largest dam currently in use in Namibia – was at the brink of reaching a level of 43% of its storage capacity yesterday.

After two weeks of rains in its catchment area, the Hardap Dam’s level was recorded at 42,9% yesterday morning, the Namibia Water Corporation reported in its latest update on the state of Namibia’s main surface water reservoirs.

The dam’s level stood at 28,7% on Monday this week, 20,6% at the start of last week, and only 6,5% of its storage capacity of 294,5 million cubic metres of water on 17 February. A year ago, Hardap’s level was at 28%. By yesterday morning, the dam was storing 126,4 million cubic metres of water, and was still receiving an inflow at a rate of 67,7 cubic metres a second, NamWater reported.

A massive flow of water into Hardap was recorded on Monday and Tuesday, with the inflow reaching a rate of 963 cubic metres a second – or 963 000 litres of water a second – at 22h00 on Monday.

The water flowing into the dam is a lifeline for Hardap irrigation scheme farmers, whose supply of water from the dam was cut by NamWater at the start of February, due to the then low level of the dam.

The dam was dealt a setback in August 2017 when 3,5 million cubic metres of water was released from it in a failed attempt to send water to the Neckartal Dam then being built downstream in the Fish River west of Keetmanshoop. The 3,5 billion litres of water released from Hardap seeped into the dry bed of the Fish River, though, and failed to reach Neckartal.

The Oanob Dam near Rehoboth, which was at a level of 46,8% two weeks ago and at 90,5% on Monday, was filled to 95,5% of its capacity by yesterday morning.

The Swakoppoort Dam, which is one of the main dams storing water for Windhoek and the central area of the country, has also continued to receive an inflow of water this week, with its level rising to 85,8% of its storage capacity of 63,4 million cubic metres by yesterday. Two weeks ago, Swakoppoort’s level stood at 4,8%.

The combined contents of the three dams storing water for Windhoek and the central area of the country – Swakoppoort, Von Bach and Omatako – stood at 129,5 million cubic metres yesterday, compared to 29,3 million cubic metres two weeks ago, on 17 February, and combined contents of 34,3 million cubic metres a year ago.

Dam levels reported by NamWater yesterday, with the dams’ levels a year ago in brackets, include:

Von Bach 99,8% (47,3%)

Swakoppoort 85,8% (18,3%)

Omatako 63,6% (0,6%)

Otjivero Main 17,2% (4,1%)

Otjivero Silt 76,7% (empty)

Naute 87,8% (99,9%)

Dreihuk 18,9% (1,1%)

Bondels 102,8% (empty)

Omaruru Delta (Omdel) 3,8% (empty).

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