Falling Water Levels Hurt Sub-Sahara’s Biggest Hydro Plant
- Drought that cut Kariba’s levels now affecting Cahora Bassa
- Forecasts for above-normal rainfall might mitigate impact
The Cahora Bassa dam in 1987.
Photographer: Patrick Durand/Sygma via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Sharply falling water levels at Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa dam, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest hydropower plant, are threatening electricity supplies to countries including South Africa, which buys about a third of its output.
Levels are the lowest Phil Bezuidenhout, a lodge owner at the dam, has seen in the 24 years he’s operated on its shores in the country’s northwest.