Water
1Min
South Africa
Nov 22, 2025
The move, set for 10am and noon, will see water releases drop sharply from 1,097m³/s to roughly 650m³/s. This comes after officials opened eight gates earlier in the week when the dam swelled beyond full capacity.
The Department of Water and Sanitation will close two sluice gates at the Vaal Dam this Saturday as water levels begin easing after a week of relentless rains in Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
The move, set for 10am and noon, will see water releases drop sharply from 1,097m³/s to roughly 650m³/s. This comes after officials opened eight gates earlier in the week when the dam swelled beyond full capacity.
DWS spokesperson Dr Mandla Mathebula said the system is “finally showing signs of relief”.
“We’re now able to reduce the releases because inflows have calmed. The dam is still full, but we’ve seen a steady drop overnight. Our teams are monitoring things closely,” he said.
The Vaal Dam is sitting at 102.74% this morning, down from 105.67% on Thursday. Bloemhof Dam is also full at 100.75%, and will continue releasing 1,000m³/s.
Mathebula said there’s no need to adjust Bloemhof’s outflow yet.“The situation there is stable. We’ll keep reviewing it,” he said.
The department will continue routine flood-risk assessments across the Vaal River System.
