By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The City of Cape Town has started the construction of an emergency spillway on the fourth and remaining dam near Malmesbury after three other dams in Riverlands have collapsed.
The dam is reported to be on the verge of collapse amid the heavy rain in the province.
On Thursday, 08 August 2024, the wall of one of the dams on a property known as Dassenberg breached, affecting two neighbouring dams and resulting in severe flooding to parts of Riverlands, Chatsworth and Dassenberg, outside Malmesbury.
Fourteen people are being treated in hospitalised, while 444 people are receiving humanitarian support and 224 people are being housed at a local church and a Thusong service centre. The Riverlands town is without potable water, and the Swartland and Drakenstein Municipality will temporarily provide water to the community until water supply is restored.
The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation called on the Department of Water and Sanitation to enhance monitoring in order to ensure adequate safety standards for its dams and private dams, so that the safety of people downstream is not threatened.
Following a meeting held on 1 November 2022, the committee raised concerns with the department about the lack of capacity within the Dam Safety and Management Division.
“The committee highlighted that this lack of capacity negatively impacts on the ability of the department to enforce Chapter 12 in National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998 (s117 – s123). It also increases exponentially the risk factor for communities residing downstream of dams and requires immediate action from the department,” the committee said.
The committee also raised concerns about the cumulative total backlog of 474 dam safety evaluation (DSE) reports from the department.
“It is important that these dam safety evaluation reports are concluded to enhance the safety of communities. The committee will in the near future request the department to provide an update on eradicating the identified backlog of dam safety evaluation reports.”
The investigation in Malmesbury is still ongoing to determine the cause of the disaster and to determine if other dams in the area are safe.
The department of water and sanitation’s spokesperson, Mandla Mathebula, said the three failed dams did not have sufficient spillways and had filled beyond the safe level.
“The fourth dam, which is the highest dam in the valley, also has no spillway, and it has been discovered that it has some structural damage. The dams are owned by the Western Cape provincial government and serve the local farmers.
“The construction has commenced under the supervision of an approved professional person, who will ensure that this dam is able to handle the anticipated floods due to the predicted rainfall, which will last until Tuesday.
“The existing outlet pipe of the dam will also be kept fully open to allow the dam levels to drop to safe capacity or even empty if required,” he said.