Von Bach level nears 90%

THE Von Bach Dam near Okahandja, which is one of the main surface reservoirs supplying water to Windhoek, approached a level of 90% of its storage capacity, as inflows into the dam continued yesterday.

With Von Bach’s level rising from 82,4% of its capacity on Monday to 89% by noon yesterday, the contents of another major water source for Windhoek and Okahandja, the Swakoppoort Dam, were also boosted, from a level of 34,9% on Monday to 40,5% by midday yesterday.

Both dams were still receiving inflows by noon yesterday as well, the Namibia Water Corporation reported.

The level of the third major dam storing water for Windhoek and the central area of Namibia, the Omatako Dam between Okahandja and Otjiwarongo, has also continued to rise this week, reaching 37% of its storage capacity yesterday.

The Omatako Dam’s level was at 33% on Monday and 18% at the beginning of last week.

The contents of the Hardap Dam, which had dropped to a historic low level of 6,5% at the start of last week, was measured at 76,8 million cubic metres, representing 26,1% of the dam’s storage capacity, yesterday, NamWater also reported.

Hardap’s level was at 20,6% at the start of this week, and 28,9% a year ago.

The Von Bach Dam was 38,8% full at the start of last week, and 48,8% a year ago, while Swakoppoort’s level stood at only 4,8% at the start of last week, and 18,9% a year ago.

At the start of last week, the combined contents of the Von Bach, Swakoppoort and Omatako dams were 29,3 million cubic metres of water. By yesterday, these contents had increased to more than 74,1 million cubic metres.

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