Lake Kariba dam water recedes

By OLIVER SAMBOKO WATER in Lake Kariba dam, the country’s biggest Hydro-electricity scheme in Siavonga, has started receding at the man-made water reservoir dropping by 0.15 percent between June, 24 and 25, 2020. Lake Kariba is designed to operate between levels 475.50m and 488.50m with 0.70m freeboard for hydropower generation. According to data obtained from the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) the Lake level continued to rise steadily, stagnating, before recording a first drop on June, 25, 2020 at 481.23m, which is translated to 41.04 percent usable storage. Last year on the same date, the Lake level was at 479.52m (28.32 percent usable storage). Meanwhile, an energy expert, Victor Hazemba has advised ZRA to start looking at ways of ensuring that used water for power generation is pumped back into the dam for reuse to sustain the continued operation of the dam.    Mr Hazemba said following the continued low inflows of water at Africa’s largest manmade lake by volume, there was need for operators of the dam to think outside the box and ensure that the water reservoir continues functioning effectively despite the bad effect of climate changes which has resulted in the power stations to operate at less capacity.        ZRA has this year, allocated 22 billion cubic meters of water shared equally between Zesco Limited and Zimbabwe Power Company to ensure continued availability of water for power generation at Kariba for 2020.