The Tugela Vaal water Transfer Scheme is an irrigation project developed in the Drakensberg mountains at the Oliviershoek Pass in South Africa.[1]
The project will thus allow the annual transfer from the Tugela basin (in KwaZulu-Natal) of 630 million m3 of water to the Vaal basin (in the Free State) in the north, and ultimately the Vaal dam in Gauteng.[2][3]
Various pumping stations and water reservoirs have been or are to be created or adapted as part of the implementation of this project.
The main dams built are:
- the Woodstock Dam in KwaZulu-Natal;
- the Kilburn Dam in KwaZulu-Natal;
- the Driekloof Dam in the Free State;
- the Sterkfontein Dam in the Free State.
Currently, the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme of the electricity producer Eskom allows, since 1981, essentially energy storage, and its exploitation by pumped storage. The current system already includes the Spioenkop Dam. Other dams to be built, around the towns of Ladysmith (Jana dam) and Escourt (Mielietuin dam), will collect water which will be transported by pipeline to the Kilburn dam lake, at the foot of the Drakensberg, to be then sent to the Vaal Basin by pumping.[4]
- ^ Projects restoring Land and Water (PDF).
- ^ "Sterkfontein Dam, South Africa". Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
- ^ Thukela Water Project – Background
- ^ Thukela Water Project – Investigations