The Vaal Dam in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

was constructed in 1938 and lies 77 km south of

OR Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

, which is one of South Africa's strongest-flowing rivers. Other rivers flowing into the dam are the

Wilge River The Wilge River ( af, Wilgerivier, meaning "willow river") is a tributary of the Vaal River in central South Africa. This river is important as part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Transfer Scheme where water is transferred from the Tugela River basin t ...

Klip River The Klip River is the main river draining the portion of Johannesburg south of the Witwatersrand, and its basin includes the Johannesburg CBD and Soweto. The mouth of the river is at Vereeniging where it empties into the Vaal River, which is a tri ...

, Molspruit and Grootspruit. It has over of shoreline and is South Africa's second biggest dam by area and the fourth largest by volume.

History

The construction of Vaal Dam started during the depression of the early thirties and the dam was completed in 1938 with a wall height of above lowest foundation and a full supply capacity of . The dam is a concrete gravity structure with an earthfill section on the right flank. It was built as a joint venture by

Rand Water Rand Water, previously known as the Rand Water Board, is a South African water utility that supplies potable water to the Gauteng province and other areas of the country and is the largest water utility in Africa. The water is drawn from numerous s ...

and the Department of Irrigation (now known as the Department of Water Affairs). The dam was subsequently raised in the early fifties to a height of which increased the capacity to . A second raising took place in 1985 when the wall was raised by a further to above lowest foundation. The capacity of the dam is currently and a further or 26% can be stored temporarily for flood attenuation. The flood attenuation properties of the dam were severely tested in February 1996 when the largest flood ever recorded at the Vaal Dam site was experienced. An inflow of over was measured into the Vaal Dam which was already at full capacity due to good rains and it was only through the expert management of the Hydrology staff at DWAF that the maximum flood released from the dam was limited to . Flows above would have caused serious damage downstream of Vaal Dam and the situation during the 1996 flood became extremely tense as the storage in the reservoir peaked at 118.5% of Full Supply Capacity on 19 February 1996 i.e. only of flood absorption capacity remained before the full inflow would have been released causing massive damage. The

Lesotho Highlands Water Project The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is an ongoing water supply project with a hydropower component, developed in partnership between the governments of Lesotho and South Africa. It comprises a system of several large dams and tunnels thr ...

feeds water into the system by gravity contributing to a stable supply of water to the people and industrial complex of

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. This water is piped from Lesotho into the Liebenbergsvlei and

s. The

Sterkfontein Dam The Sterkfontein Dam, located just outside the town of Harrismith, in the Free State, province of South Africa, is part of the Tugela-Vaal Water Project and the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme, and located on the Nuwejaarspruit, a tributary of ...

forms part of the Tugela-Vaal water transfer scheme for the

interbasin transfer Interbasin transfer or transbasin diversion are (often hyphenated) terms used to describe man-made conveyance schemes which move water from one river basin where it is available, to another basin where water is less available or could be utilized ...

of water from the

Thukela River The Tugela River ( zu, Thukela; af, Tugelarivier) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in Mont-aux-Sources of the D ...

in KwaZulu-Natal to boost the levels in the Vaal River System. Water from the Sterkfontein Dam is released once the Vaal Dam drops to below 16%. The dam has its own island some long. The island was used as a secret meeting place by the apartheid government but now hosts the annual Round the Island Yacht race, a

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

title of the largest inland yacht race. On 4 May 1948

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

introduced

Short Solent The Short Solent is a passenger flying boat that was produced by Short Brothers in the late 1940s. It was developed from the Short Seaford, itself a development of the Short Sunderland military flying boat design. The first Solent flew in 194 ...

flying boats on the UK (Southampton) to South Africa (Vaaldam) service. The small village of

Deneysville Deneysville is a small town on the banks of the Vaal Dam in the Free State province of South Africa. History Deneysville was established in 1936 and named after Deneys Reitz, writer of ''Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War'' and son of f ...

was used as a stop-over point by the old

flying boats.

Water sports

The Vaal Dam is a world renowned fishing venue for freshwater carp and catfish. Its shores are filled with anglers throughout the year. Many world class water sport events are held here including the annual "Round The Island" yacht race organized by Lake Deneys Yacht Club— a race that has been in the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for being the "Most Yachts in an Inland Yacht Race in the World", in which 389 craft crossed the finish line. This race has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the most boats in an inland yacht race. Several large events take place here including Keelboat Week and the Bayshore 200 km

jetski Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki, a Japanese company. The term is often used generically to refer to any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation, and it is also used as a verb to ...

race, and now the Bayshore Marina Vaal Dam Treasure Hunt. Lake Deneys Yacht Club and Pennant Nine Yacht Club partnered the organisation of a fleet which participated in the inaugural 2014 and second 2015 international "Bart's Bash". Three provinces make up the Dam's shoreline - the Free State has the longest stretch, Mpumalanga has a beautiful and relatively unspoilt shoreline, while the most despoiled by far is that of

. The dam was commissioned in 1939, has a capacity of , and a surface area of , the dam wall is high. Due to the large lake size reservoir there is a problem with evaporation, see

for more details.

is the largest town on the Vaal Dam and provides a shopping centre for the Dam. There are three yacht clubs and two marinas.

Nature

The main angling fish species of the Vaal dam are

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprinid ...

, common carp,

mirror carp Mirror carp, regionally known as Israeli carp, are a type of domesticated fish commonly found in Europe but widely introduced or cultivated elsewhere. They are a variety of the common carp (''Cyprinus carpio'') developed through selective breedin ...

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russi ...

smallmouth yellowfish The smallmouth yellowfish (''Labeobarbus aeneus'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Labeobarbus''. It has become an invasive species in rivers of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, such as the Mbhashe River. Introduction The Orange-V ...

largemouth yellowfish The largemouth yellowfish or Vaal-Orange largemouth yellowfish (''Labeobarbus kimberleyensis'') is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. This large freshwater barb is found in southern Africa.Impson & Swarz (2007) It has long been ...

and

mudfish Mudfish most commonly refers to all species of ''Neochanna'', native to New Zealand and south-eastern Australia. Mudfish may also refer to: Fish * Bowfin (''Amia calva''), North America * ''Channa'' or snakehead, a genus of predatory fish in Asi ...

. Egyptian geese and

blacksmith lapwing The blacksmith lapwing or blacksmith plover (''Vanellus armatus'') is a lapwing species that occurs commonly from Kenya through central Tanzania to southern and southwestern Africa. The vernacular name derives from the repeated metallic 'tink, ti ...

are abundant shore birds, and

Caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

s also occur in large numbers. The

greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

is a regular wading bird, with

lesser flamingo The lesser flamingo (''Phoeniconaias minor'') is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and western India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered Vagrancy (biology), vagrants. Charac ...

present in lower numbers, and vagrant openbills have been seen. A few dozen

fish eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...

s are present, while

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

occurs sparsely.

References

External links

Rand Water Board

Deneysville
{{Authority control Dams completed in 1938 Dams in South Africa

History

Water sports

Nature

See also

References

External links