| Katse Dam | |
|---|---|
 Katse Dam | |
| Official name | Katse Dam |
| Location | Lesotho |
| Coordinates | 29°20′13″S 28°30′22″E / 29.33694°S 28.50611°E |
| Purpose | Irrigation and domestic |
| Opening date | 1996 |
| Owner(s) | Kingdom of Lesotho |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Arch dam |
| Impounds | Malibamat'so River |
| Height | 185 m (607 ft) |
| Length | 710 m (2329 ft) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 1.950 km3 (1,580,891 acre⋅ft) |
| Surface area | 3,580 ha (8,846 acres) |
The Katse Dam, a concrete arch dam on the Malibamat'so River in Lesotho, is Africa's second largest double-curvature arch dam after the Tekezé Dam in Ethiopia. Located just below the confluence of the Bokong River, which forms the western arm of the Katse reservoir, the dam is part of a larger project which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas.
The potential of the project was identified by the South African civil engineer Ninham Shand in 1953 as a possible means to supplement the water supply of South Africa's industrial heartland in the Witwatersrand.[1] The World Bank arranged a treaty between the governments of South Africa and Lesotho, allowing the project to proceed.
- ^ Unknown (1970). "Orbituary: Ninham Shand, BSc". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 45 (2). ICE Virtual Library: 379–380. doi:10.1680/iicep.1970.7187. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
In 1953, while carrying out investigations commissioned by the British Government into the rivers of the Lesotho, Shand first conceived the idea of diverting the headwaters of the Orange River from an altitude of some 10 000 ft in the Lesotho Mountains to augment the limited water supplies available for the Witwatersrand and Orange Free State. This pioneering concept became known as the Oxbox Scheme, itself a single element of a much wider plan which captured the imagination of the people of Lesotho.