Rietvlei Dam | |
---|---|
Official name | Rietvlei Dam |
Country | South Africa |
Location | Pretoria, Gauteng |
Coordinates | 25°52′36″S 28°15′57″E / 25.8767°S 28.2658°E |
Construction began | 1932[1] |
Opening date | 1934[1][2] |
Owner(s) | City of Tshwane |
Dam and spillways | |
Type of dam | earth-fill |
Impounds | Rietvlei River[3] |
Height | 32 m[1] |
Length | 350 m |
Reservoir | |
Creates | Rietvlei Dam Reservoir |
Total capacity | 12 377 m3[1] |
Catchment area | 0.4 km2 |
Surface area | 1.89 square kilometres (189 ha)[1] |
The Rietvlei dam is an earth-fill type dam and is one of a number of dams supplying water to the Pretoria region of South Africa. It supplies around 41 million liters of drinking water daily,[1] about 5.9% of the water requirement of Pretoria.[4] The dam mainly serves for municipal and industrial use. Its hazard potential has been ranked high (3).
Constructed as an earth-fill dam wall with a brick core in 1932/4, it was extended between 1988 and 1990 by raising the dam wall with the addition of a concrete wave wall and a reinforced earth barrier wall, as well as a surfaced roadway, on top of the original wall.
The dam is fed by the Rietvlei, a river of the Crocodile River (Limpopo) basin, as well as by five fountains and five boreholes.
The Rietvlei Nature Reserve occupies the area immediately surrounding the dam.