While the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has launched an investigation into the flood crisis precipitated by the collapse of Dam-4 in the Western Cape town of Riverslands, a government technical water expert yesterday conceded there were no warning to the disaster.
Oversight role in question
Independent water analyst Jane Eagle has questioned whether the department has performed its oversight role satisfactorily, including:
• Whether it evaluated and responded to any dam safety evaluation reports; and
• Whether it ensured that dam safety reports were submitted by relevant parties as required.
“Any failure by the parties to carry out the necessary audits and submit the required safety reports would create safety risks,” said Eagle.
“One would also need to know if safety audits were carried out, what the findings and recommendations were, and whether these were acted upon – any remedial work budgeted for by the responsible owner.
“Failure to act timeously to address any identified risks would raise questions about possible negligence or at the very least – failure to maintain the dam infrastructure in a responsible manner.”
While conceding that there were no warning signs in the Riverslands crisis, DWS technical expert Walter Ramokopa said all the country’s dams had to meet legal requirements.
“Warning signs were not available or put up as we always intended to lower the level steadily,” he said.
“The likelihood of failure of Dam-4 and the consequence of failure, was determined through a dam classification process.
“However, the department has reported to the municipality in one of our [joint operations committee] meetings that water would start to be released from the dam during the weekend in the daylight, to be able to have better control of the situation.”
Those at risk must be classified
All dams, said Ramokopa, which met the requirement to be classified as “dams with a safety risk” should be registered by the owner with the department’s dam safety office.
“This allows the department to regulate these dams and ensure owners comply with the safety regulations,” Ramokopa said.
“The regulations require dam owners to carry out compulsory dam safety valuations – at least once every five years.”
He said the investigation led by the DWS would determine accountability in the handling of the crisis.
“The department always tries to do things better by involving all the sector stakeholders. In this instance, we had always been in contact with the municipality and indicated the reasons for the lowering of the water level in the dam,” he said.
“After the failure of the three dams on 8 August, the department inspected all the dams and noticed that Dam-4 suffered partial failure of the earth embankment on the downstream face.”
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