Africa-Press – Zambia. The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has recorded an increase in the Lake Kariba water level from 478.35m as at January 1, 2022 to 478 52m as at March 18, 2022.
In a statement made available to ZANIS, the increase of water level at the beginning of January 2022 was mainly due to sustained rainfall activity in the Kariba Lower Catchment but that the lake receded due to a reduction in rainfall activity.
ZRA Public Relations Manager Selusiwe Sibanda disclosed that as of March 14 2022, the Lake was at 3.03 meters above the minimum operating level of 475.50m translating into 13.66 billion cubic meters of stored usable water that is available for power generation.
He however noted that last year in March, the Lake level was higher at 481.44m with 27.62 of stored usable water. The Authority has since assured that due the upper catchment rainfall activity, the lake would start increasing likely reaching a peak of 480.30m above the minimum operating level
The statement further indicated that the Authority has maintained water allocation for power generation at Kariba Dam for 2022 at forty-five billion cubic meters of water allocated to ZESCO Limited and Zimbabwe Power Company for their respective power generation operations.
“The Authority has continued and will continue to monitor and analyse the available hydrological data and hereby wishes to assure the public that a significant lake level rise is anticipated by mid-April 2022. This will result in an increase in stored usable water for power generation at Kariba,” read part of the statement.
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