Kariba Dam Water Levels Rise Significantly

Lake Kariba is now at 32,77 per cent of usable storage for power generation, up from 32,70 per cent during the same period last year, the latest Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) hydrological report shows. The report reads:

The Lake level has continued rising steadily. It closed the period under review at 480.13m (32,77 per cent usable storage) on 11th May 2020.

Last year on the same date, the Lake level was at 480.01m (32,70 per cent usable storage) from April 28 to May 13, 2020.

The report also shows that flows are now diminishing, but are not low. On Monday, Chavuma was recording a flow of 1 200 cubic metres a second, compared to just 354 cubic metres a second this time last year.

Victoria Falls flows have also declined from 4375 cubic metres per second to 4306 cubic metres per second.

At the beginning of April, the lake was almost 11 metres from full but ZRA projects the maximum level to be reached this year to be far below full due to evaporation losses and water discharged during power generation.

About 55,5 billion cubic metres of water is expected to flow into Lake Kariba this year, to add to the 10,5 billion cubic metres of “usable water” already in the lake.

Usable storage is the water in the top 13m of a full lake, that is the water above the inlets to the two power stations.

More: The Herald