Harare, (New Ziana) –The water level in Lake Kariba is rising steadily as the rainy season progresses although lower than comparable periods in previous years, the Zambezi River Authority(ZRA) has said.

In its latest weekly update on Lake Kariba, the ZRA said the lake levels had closed the January 7 to January 20 period at 476.01m (3.57 percent usable storage), compared to 477.76m (15.71 percent usable storage) recorded on the same date last year.

Usable live storage (volume) was at 2.318 billion cubic metres compared to 10.17 billion cubic metres during the same period last year.

Live storage refers to the water available for electricity generation.

At full supply level, the lake stores 181 billion cubic metres of water.

According to the ZRA, Lake Kariba is designed to operate between levels 475.50m and 488.50m (with 0.70m freeboard) for hydropower generation.

The rains have brought renewed hope to most sectors of the country, including energy and agriculture.

The ZRA is a bilateral organization that is jointly and equally owned by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe (the contracting states).

Its primary function is to operate, maintain, monitor and regulate the water level in the Kariba reservoir.

The ZRA is also mandated to construct, operate and maintain any other dam infrastructure on the Zambezi River as well as to collect, accumulate and process hydrological and environmental data regarding the Zambezi River for improved performance of its functions and for any other purpose beneficial to the socio-economic development of the contracting states.

New Ziana