C Dam at a rate of 174 m 174 of rate a at Dam wouldbeexperienced lossesthat of the from V T Purpose m million 630 to up of transfer net the involving scheme pumped-storage a Thukela–Vaalis the which Projectvia water its dam receives flanks. The earthfill two central with concretea structurecomprising compositesection a is Thedam Description uppercatchmentarea NuwejaarsSpruit,inthe Africa.Itislocatedonthe in South V ofthe T Location from DriekloofDamatarate of312 m waterisreleased andearlyevening,the morning duringthe demand. Duringperiodsof peak demand,typically of 1 646 m and the bottom ofreservoir bottom of 1 646 mandthe isat1 617 m. levelstorage dead a with 1 702 m, of level supply full a has dam Theevaporation. to loss water, little very with Wilge Riverwhenneeded.T needed. Due to the favourable storage and climatic characteristics of , it is beneficial to store deep,water inthe cool SterkfonteinDamandonlyreleaseV shallow watertothe to beneficial is it Dam, Sterkfontein of characteristics climatic and storage favourable the to Due needed. evaporation losses from Sterkfontein Dam are approximately 35 million m he water from K upperreacheshis damissituatedinthe V ofthe oordinates (degrees, minutes,seconds) 28°23’14” S LATITUDE 3 ofwaterfrom K S terkfontein Dam waZ L ONGITUDE 29°01’00” E ulu-Natal is stored in 3 /s by four 250 MW pumps/turbines into Driekloof Dam during periods of low power low of periods during Dam Driekloof into pumps/turbines 250 MW four by /s waZ terkfontein Dam is a very effective reservoir, effective he SterkfonteinDamisavery since tostore depth ithasthe alotof ulu-Natal. T 3 /s togenerate upto1 000MWofpower. his isstored inSterkfonteinDamandreleased V tothe Sterkfontein Dam and released to V aal Damforasimilarvolume.Water ispumpedupfrom Kilburn aal River, catchmentC11L upstream inquaternary ofStanderton 3 /a which represents approximately 10% aal Dam via the when aal Damwhenneeded.T aal River. aal Damviathe he Sterkfontein Dam(source:SADeptofWaterAffairs) NAMIBIA Orange-Senqu SOUTH AFRICA River Basin BOTSWANA Sterkfontein Dam LESOTHO Sterkfontein Dam

Physical Information Operating Rule Sterkfontein Dam (on the Wilge River, a tributary of the ), along with Grootdraai FSC* Dam, , Vaal Barrage and Bloemhof Dam (all on the Vaal River) form part of Quaternary 2 Wall height Wall length Dam name River catchment (million SA (km ) Owner DWA code (m) (m) m3) the Bloemhof sub-system, which is part of the greater Integrated Vaal River System. Woodstock Dam and the Driel Barrage (situated in the Thukela River catchment), form Nuwejaars Sterkfontein C81D 2 616.95 67.26 DWA C8R003 69 3 060 the Thukela Transfer Scheme into the Vaal catchment. The large scheme is operated Spruit as follows: The Thukela system supports Sterkfontein Dam until Sterkfontein Dam is full. * Live full supply capacity (SANCOLD) The transfer limit is 606 million m3/a. When the Vaal Dam is at 15% storage or less, Sterkfontein will begin to support it. Abstractions at Sedibeng and Midvaal make use of 3 Demands/abstractions (million m /a) local runoff and spills from upstream dams. When this is not adequate, the Vaal Dam Year of completion 1:50 yield (million Maximum spillway m3/a) capacity (m3/s) supports the abstractions. The Vaal Dam will only begin to support Bloemhof Dam when Domestic Irrigation Other Bloemhof Dam reaches its minimum operating level (1 213.6 m).

1974 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

s rt ts Ha ar ot- -H ro in Loop G e Vaal Kl VEREENINGING Area–Capacity Relationship POTCHEFSTROOM KLERKSDORP Vaal Grootdraai Dam l Dam va ter Witbank Yster K a Harts r W 3 2 om Elevation (m) Storage (million m ) Surface area (km ) elm Vaal boo Vaal g Klip

B M a a

m k w

b H Wilge a

1 702 2 616.951 67.257 o e

s

e u

s s n Renoster i e ing Vals Krom 1 675 1 050.946 47.129 KROONSTAD RSA Hol NEWCASTLE i Bloemhof e B () Vals l u V f 1 664 590.237 36.526 f a s l o Dam g Blom r

e

WELKOM b

n

e

b

e i

1 656 335.157 26.681 L Sa nd RSA D Allemanskraal o BETHLEHEM Vet r ing Dam 1 651 217.397 20.487 Sterkfontein (Kwazulu/ Dam B Erfenis

Taaibos o Natal) s Sand Sundays s Dam Laai i PHUTHADITJABA 1 644 101.521 12.717 e Klein-vet Caledon G Krugersdrift ro Doring o Tugela 1 634 20.609 4.375 t-v Dam e H Khubelu Tugela t l s ot an Modder se kr ou Bl 1 630 6.883 2.558 Senqunyana Malibamatso eu BLOEMFONTEIN Le Rustfontein Katse 1 621 0.051 0.043 Dam Dam Tierpoort M MASERU o LESOTHO d

d

Dam e

r n do 1 617 0.000 0.000 Riet Fourie Cale Mohale Mkom azi

Makhaleng Dam Dam network