Vaal river flows

[Herman Jooste]

" MISCOMMUNICATION" ??????? BWWWWWAAAAHHHHAAAAA,

Some one ( above the Barrage ) with clout needed to repair their Jettys damaged in the floods in a hurry.

I am betting that they will do exactly the same as last year, in mid june they will increase the flows from the Barrage back up to 80+ for a week, so as to drain the Loch Vaal area so that all the water front owners can repair/fix their boat launch areas.
The've done it 2 years running in winter ( after the floods ) so why should they stop now. Especially seeing that after the Local Government elections, the same powers that be are in control.

I'm seriously considering moving to Meyerton, but property prices are double those of Vanderbijlpark.

I wonder why.

[Andre s]

" MISCOMMUNICATION" ??????? BWWWWWAAAAHHHHAAAAA,

Some one ( above the Barrage ) with clout needed to repair their Jettys damaged in the floods in a hurry.

This reasoning make more sense as to why they screwed our conditions overnight.

[gazzarowan]

we should just send in the Hermanator...

with beer in hand he can provide the "clout" they need to keep things on track

[poppernel]

This reasoning make more sense as to why they screwed our conditions overnight.

Andre, have you ever thought?? your ff conditions mean F
all to those involved with waterworks.

DAVE

[Michael]

Andre, have you ever thought?? your ff conditions mean F
all to those involved with waterworks.

DAVE

Exactly...think about it...why b1tch about it? Are they there to cater for us fly fishermen? No.
Who should they cater for? Fly fishermen? Bait fishermen? Property owners along the banks? Canoeists? Farmers?

We can't really tell them what to do...and moan if they don't do what we expect. It's a bit arrogant.

[Herman Jooste]

Exactly...think about it...why b1tch about it? Are they there to cater for us fly fishermen? No.
Who should they cater for? Fly fishermen? Bait fishermen? Property owners along the banks? Canoeists? Farmers?

We can't really tell them what to do...and moan if they don't do what we expect. It's a bit arrogant.

Mike, one would hope you are right, however, how come the canoing fraternity can manage to get the flows incresed during the Vaal Canoe Marathon ?????????

[Andre s]

Andre, have you ever thought?? your ff conditions mean F
all to those involved with waterworks.

DAVE

Yes sure Uncle Pops, i know ff conditions mean nothing to them and i dont expect that either, i was just releasing some frustrations with regards to viz. It was just starting to look better. If it was for a reason like maintenance or repair work on the wall, no prob it must be done, better now than later, but if it was a miscommunication – mistake as we were told, then its really unnecessary and they need to work on a new communication channel, or new system or new management. I follow the flows and release pretty closely and for the life of me i couldn’t fathom why they had dropped it to 10cms the Thursday and up to 211 the Monday, does not make sense, it was the same scenario in December reversed where there was huge amounts of rain and plenty more expected they kept the release flows normal and only released tons of water at the last minute . i cant remember the exact readings, but do have the info somewhere it was something like 2500-3000cms inflow and the outflow was extremely low and the dam was close to 100% full. Do these guys that control this actually know what they are doing? I know nothing about waterworks, control, flood management but maybe the extent and damage of the floods could have been avoided or less if they had increased the release sooner and managed it better and not so much so quickly. Maybe someone can explain this to me. Anyway enough arrogance and b1tching the upside is the barrage level is low, there is not much rain expected so the viz should start getting a lot better faster than it usually takes and they can’t mess it up again because there is not enough water to do that.

Exactly...think about it...why b1tch about it? Are they there to cater for us fly fishermen? No.
Who should they cater for? Fly fishermen? Bait fishermen? Property owners along the banks? Canoeists? Farmers?

We can't really tell them what to do...and moan if they don't do what we expect. It's a bit arrogant.

Sorry for b1tching Mike, this is a FF forum so i was just stating the effects of this wrt us flyfishers, actually i would just like to understand the reasoning behind what they are doing. who are they catering for? Next time i will be excited and look at it as a challenge, after all targeting largies is too easy. please excuse my arrogance.

[jock0]

Mike, one would hope you are right, however, how come the canoing fraternity can manage to get the flows incresed during the Vaal Canoe Marathon ?????????

Same reason the guys at the Christiana manage to get the flows dropped for the Bells event... All about who you know and the mood the required official is in. I've got no issue with the Bells festival in case anyone's wondering... Still one of my favourite events!

An interesting model in the Uk is that you can "book" and pay for a scheduled release of water if the reservoirs are above a certain capacity. Not feasible on the Vaal for numerous reasons but it would be pretty cool on some of the smaller dams, Zaaihoek for one!

[Michael]

Sorry for b1tching Mike, this is a FF forum so i was just stating the effects of this wrt us flyfishers, actually i would just like to understand the reasoning behind what they are doing. who are they catering for? Next time i will be excited and look at it as a challenge, after all targeting largies is too easy. please excuse my arrogance.

Howzit andre

Wasn't aimed specifically at you...I just find it weird that a lot of guys "expect" water affairs to "accomodate" us fly fishers all the time. Ain't gonna happen...the dam, the river, and water affairs are all there to serve the nation and supply drinking water etc...they have f-all to do with sports and don't have to accomodate anyone...
As Jocko says, sometimes yes, things can be arranged, if you know the right people...(i.e. canoe marathons, increased flow for it, etc)...

But think about it...in a normal season, with no floods...we as FF have a LOT more days on the river which are suitable for fly fishing, than say the canoeists do...they have to make a plan to get ONE day. We can go most days and find good fishing spots and suitable flows.

But the bottom line, is that Water Affairs are not there to cater for us (or any sportsman really).

[Herman Jooste]

[QUOTE=Herman Jooste;193291[B]]" MISCOMMUNICATION" ??????? BWWWWWAAAAHHHHAAAAA,

Some one ( above the Barrage ) with clout needed to repair their Jettys damaged in the floods in a hurry.[/B][/QUOTE

On the second last page of the Vanderbijlpark Ster paper is a report, in Afrikaans, titled " 11 Sluice oopgemaak sonder Warskuving ".

The gist of the issue is that the landowners below the Barrage are p!ssed off at the sudden floods, without warning, that have caused damage.

Rand Water spokesperson, Mr. Johannes Mahao, confirmed that 11 gates were opened for 1 hour, so that a boat could be removed from above the Barrage.

One would assume that the boat had sunk, hence the necessity to lower the water levels,