Kariba Dam Water Levels Continue To Fall Despite Rainfall
The water level at the Kariba Dam continues to decline, despite some rainfall in the reservoir and its immediate catchment area.
The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) reported on Monday, November 18, that the lake level has dropped to 476.03m, representing just 3.71% of usable storage.
This marks a significant decrease compared to the same date in 2023, when the lake level stood at 477.68m, with 15.15% of usable storage. ZRA said:
The Kariba Lake is designed to operate between levels 475.50m and 488.50m (with 0.70m freeboard) for hydropower generation.
The Lake level is steadily decreasing with fluctuations being observed due to the influence of rainfall on the lake and immediate catchment, closing the period under review at 476.03m (3.71% usable storage) on 18th November 2024, compared to 477.68m (15.15% usable storage) recorded on the same date last year.
Last week, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Energy and Power Development, Edgar Moyo, told Parliament that the country’s power utility, ZESA Holdings, is currently generating just 100 megawatts at the Kariba South Power Station, which has an installed capacity of 1,050 MW. Moyo said:
In Kariba during that time, we were able to do up to 300 megawatts but now we are only able to do 100 megawatts.
We were allocated 8.4 billion cubic metres of water for Lake Kariba for use this year but, at some point, we had to get up to 500 megawatts from Kariba to meet the high demand.
That has significantly reduced the water levels, and we are now left with about 1 billion cubic litres of water, which can generate 100 megawatts up to the end of the year.
More: Pindula News
