{"id":830275,"date":"2025-07-04T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=830275"},"modified":"2025-07-04T06:38:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T04:38:52","slug":"south-africas-dam-capacity-per-person-plummeted-by-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/830275\/south-africas-dam-capacity-per-person-plummeted-by-44\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s dam capacity per person plummeted by 44%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa\u2019s per capita dam capacity increased dramatically from 1961 to 1980, after which it steadily declined to levels last seen in 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per capita dam capacity, also known as dam capacity per person, measures the total water storage capacity of a country’s dams divided by its population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows the amount of water available for things such as agriculture, hydropower, and municipal water supply, on a per-person basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa invested heavily in water infrastructure, including the construction of additional mega dams, between 1960 and 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1970, the government built the Bloemhof dam with a capacity of 1.2 million megalitres, followed by the 5.3 million megalitres Gariep dam a year later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1973, the 2.3 million megalitres Pongolapoort dam was completed, followed by the 3.2 million megalitres Vanderkloof dam in 1977 and the 2.6 million megalitres Sterkfontein dam in 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 1980, the government has built only seven major dams, and none of them have had a capacity exceeding 400,000 megalitres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The slowdown in dam construction is clearly seen in an analysis of major projects since the dawn of democracy in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1964 and 1994, the government constructed 14 new dams that can store over 200 million cubic meters of water. Between 1994 and 2024, it only built two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1964 and 1994, South Africa increased its water supply capacity by 30 billion cubic metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1994 and 2024, South Africa added only 1.9 billion cubic metres of water capacity to its supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lack of new dams, accompanied by limited investment in general water infrastructure, is a serious concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Former Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, called for urgent partnership to build new infrastructure and upgrade existing dams to meet growing water demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2024, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina unveiled plans to address water scarcity through multiple dam construction projects across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa gave positive news about new dam construction projects during his 2025 State of the Nation Address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have ended delays in major water infrastructure projects like Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the uMkhomazi Dam,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWork is underway to prepare for the construction of the Ntabelanga Dam on the uMzimvubu River to supply additional water for domestic use and for irrigation in the Eastern Cape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s declining per capita dam capacity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the last 45 years, South Africa\u2019s per capita dam capacity declined by 44%, from 893,987 litres to 503,901 litres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The capacity was relatively stable in the sixties, when only one dam with a capacity of 212,204 million megalitres was built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1970s, South Africa\u2019s dam capacity per person increased rapidly due to the construction of numerous mega dams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the government built many new dams in the eighties, most of them had capacities of between 200,000 and 400,000 million megalitres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 1980, South Africa\u2019s dam capacity has not kept pace with population growth. This means that the country\u2019s per capita dam capacity declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dam capacity per person decline continued until the present day, as shown in the chart below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s per capita dam capacity increased dramatically from 1961 to 1980, after which it steadily declined to levels last seen in 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":738917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[23021,20266,19613,23018],"class_list":["post-830275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-pongolapoort-dam","tag-president-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-senzo-mchunu","tag-water-and-sanitation-minister"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":830277,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830275\/revisions\/830277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}