Water Levels At Victoria Falls Up By 200%

Water levels at Victoria Falls have increased by 200% compared to last year’s flow, the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) reports. 

The flow recorded on 27th May is 57% higher than the long-term average for the Falls, with the highest recorded water levels for over a decade. 

It follows Southern Africa’s worst drought in over a century in December last year, when the Falls slowed down to a mere trickle and tourism similarly dried up. 

ZRA Chief Executive Officer Munyaradazi Munodawafa has said that, contrastingly, the water levels at Lake Kariba are at their lowest on record, having receded for most of the first quarter of 2020. 

Mr Munodawafa said the receding water levels were mainly due to the delayed onset of the 2019/20 rainy season, which only began in January 2020 as opposed to the anticipated start date of October 2019. 

He added that a total of 11.45 billion cubic metres of water have been used for power generation in 2020 so far, representing 34% of the overall flow into the lake during the same period. 

He said balancing the need to increase flow into the lake and building up a reservoir for power generation had been a challenge but that ZRA had largely stuck to the prescribed water allocation drawn up for 2020, with 23 billion cubic metres shared equally between Zesco Ltd and the Zimbabwe Power Company. 

ZRA will continue to monitor the situation in the Kariba catchment, as well as at the Kariba Dam and keep the public informed of any changes.