Rietvlei Dam

Rietvlei Dam
Rietvlei Dam is located in South Africa
Rietvlei Dam
Location of Rietvlei Dam in South Africa
Official nameRietvlei Dam
CountrySouth Africa
LocationPretoria, Gauteng
Coordinates25°52′36″S 28°15′57″E / 25.8767°S 28.2658°E / -25.8767; 28.2658
Construction began1932[1]
Opening date1934[1][2]
Owner(s)City of Tshwane
Dam and spillways
Type of damearth-fill
ImpoundsRietvlei River[3]
Height32 m[1]
Length350 m
Reservoir
CreatesRietvlei Dam Reservoir
Total capacity12 377 m3[1]
Catchment area0.4 km2
Surface area1.89 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.

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Rietvlei Water Treatment Plant" (PDF). City of Pretoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  2. ^ "Rietvlei Nature Reserve: Historic Background". City of Pretoria. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  3. ^ "A Preliminary assessment of the present ecological state of the major rivers and streams within the Northern Service Delivery Region of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality" (PDF). Water Institute of Southern Africa. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  4. ^ "State of the Environment Report for the City of Tshwane 2001-2002" (PDF). City of Pretoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2008.