Wemmershoek Dam is a rock-fill type dam located on the

Wemmershoek River Wemmershoek is a settlement in Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Wemmershoek is a small village at the junction of the R301 and R45 roads. The Wemmershoek Dam Wemmershoek Dam is a rock-fill type ...

near

Franschhoek Franschhoek (; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'') is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. Formerly known as Oliphants hoek (as there were vast groups of ...

and

Paarl Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

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 ...

. It was constructed between 1953 and 1957 on behalf of the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remo ...

. With a reservoir capacity of , it provides approximately 6.5% of the storage capacity of the

Western Cape Water Supply System The Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) is a complex water supply system in the Western Cape region of South Africa, comprising an inter-linked system of six main dams, pipelines, tunnels and distribution networks, and a number of minor dams ...

which supplies

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and surrounding areas.

History

As early as 1882 the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

's hydrographic surveyor reported on the potential of the Wemmershoek valley for water supply. In 1899 the municipal council of

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

, then an independent suburb of Cape Town, began purchasing land at Wemmershoek with the aim of building a reservoir. In 1907 the councils of Woodstock, Mowbray,

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

and Claremont obtained a

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single ...

from the colonial parliament authorising the construction of a small dam at Wemmershoek. In 1913 the four suburban councils were incorporated into the

, which took over their rights at Wemmershoek. Water shortages demanded that Cape Town, which had until then relied on water supplies from

Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

, find a source of water from outside the Cape Peninsula. The two leading candidates were the Wemmershoek catchment and the Steenbras catchment in the

Hottentots Holland The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Ta ...

mountains. A ratepayers' referendum decided on Steenbras which led to the construction of the

Steenbras Dam The Steenbras Dam ("STEE-un bruss"), now referred to as Steenbras Lower Dam, is a gravity concrete arch type dam located in the Hottentots-Holland mountains, above Gordons Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. It is one of the six large dams that ...

starting in 1918. After the Second World War, with the growth of Cape Town's urban population, the city again needed to find an additional water supply. The Wemmershoek scheme was revived, and a new private bill was passed by Parliament in 1951 for the construction of a larger dam. Construction began in 1953 and was completed in 1957.

Characteristics

The dam wall is of rock-fill type with a clay core. It is long and tall at its highest point. The dam impounds a reservoir of capacity which, when full, covers an area of . Its catchment area in the Wemmershoek Mountains covers an area of . An

intake tower An intake tower or outlet tower is a vertical tubular structure with one or more openings used for capturing water from reservoirs and conveying it further to a hydroelectric or water-treatment plant. Unlike spillways, intake towers are intended ...

draws water into a pipeline which supplies a water treatment plant at the foot of the dam. Releases of water into the Wemmershoek River are by way of a gate-controlled

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

with a maximum flow of .

References

{{Western Cape Water Supply System Dams in South Africa Dams completed in 1957

History

Characteristics

See also

References