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Now you are starting to catch my drift dear Sir. If there were more water (without the silt) running on a regular basis from the SA side to Moz it might not have been necessary for them to enlarge the holding capasity of the dam to ensure that they have enough water in storage for dry periods (as are experienced at this stage)
*Francois wondering if he still needs to keep helmet on *

I was this past weekend in the KNP and the Olifants river dried up. Only a few pools.
Why don't the KNP officials ask the mines in Phalaborwa to release water into the Selati river that flows into the Olifants.
I know for a fact that for years the mines released water into the Selati river and the Olifants kept on flowing.
Remember the drought of the 1990/91 the one mine pumped water stream up of the Olifantsdam into the Olifants to keep water availible for Phalaborwa.

Hi Wildtuinman

My question is still why can't the mines release water into the river.
In my 48 years staying in Phalaborwa this is the first time the Olifants stopped flowing.
The mines released water into the river until last year June.
There was always water flowing into the river.

Dear Forumites

Thank you for your concerns about this issue.
I have asked WTM to place this for me as I am again plagued with internet connection problems.

The problem regarding the Olifants River flowing is pretty sensitive at the moment.
Many different organisations are involved but let us first look at the Act of Government that controls this - the relatively new National Water Act.
This basically says that those upstream of a river are responsible to those downstream of that same river to ensure that they get both quality and quantity of water.
An overriding factor is, of course, human consumption (people must have water).
In other words, those upstream of the Olifants are responsible for the water (both quality and quantity) that eventually flows into the KNP.

That said, we have impressed upon two of the key players of the Olifants Catchment Area (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry - DWAF and Lepelle Northern Water - the water supplier of the Phalaborwa Municipality) to ensure that water does indeed flow into the Kruger National Park.
DWAF controls the Blyde Poort Dam and Lepelle Northern Water controls the barrage.
I understand that more water has been released into the system after our request but we believe that these two organisations shouldn't have let the situation develop in the first place (if you take the new National Water Act into consideration).

We are monitoring the situation closely and have put in place severe water restrictions at all camps in this area in order to manage the river's flow from our side.
We are also in communication with both DWAF and Lepelle Northern Water.

Kind regards
KNP Spokesman

Saw something great this morning. Yesterday Olifants River was completely dry except for some remaining pools. Getting up this morning I could not believe my eyes. Water in the river and it even flows.

Now leaving Olifants rest camp we finally got a real river view Looks awsome. Katy