Level of water in Cahora Bassa lake falls

Maputo, 16 Jul (AIM) – The level of water in Cahora Bassa lake, the reservoir behind the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi river, in the central Mozambican province of Tete, has fallen sharply, due largely to the drought conditions caused by the “El Nino” weather phenomenon.

According to a statement from Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the dam, on 30 June the level of water in the lake was 316.98 metres above sea level – which means that the reservoir was 59.2 per cent full.

“This level of storage is significantly low for this time of year”, said HCB. “It is influenced by weak inflow of water into the lake, due to the El Nino phenomenon, characterised by lower than normal rainfall in the region”.

The drop in water levels threatens the generation of electricity. HCB says it is taking precautions, and since June it has been implementing a careful management plan “in order to balance the needs of electricity production against the availability of water so as to minimise the deviation from the annual production planned”.

Despite this constraint, in the first half of this year HCB’s electricity production increased by 4.7 per cent, when compared with the first six months of 2023. HCB attributed this success to careful water management.

According to the HCB Chairperson, Tomas Matola, the company will continue to accompany the long term weather forecasts, the evolution of the climate and water situation in the Zambezi basin, and the plans of the companies operating the dams further upstream, so that HCB can make adjustments if necessary.

Last week, Matola was confident that the company can achieve its targets for this year. “But if the phenomenon continues – that is, if it does not rain between October and December, which is the first quarter of the hydrological year, then next year’s electricity production will be severely affected”, he warned.

(AIM)

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