Vaal Barrage - Storing water for a thirsty city

Abstract

Water History Storing Water for a Thirsty City Vaal BaRRaGE: Completed in 1923, the Vaal Barrage, one of the earliest large dams to be constructed in the country, was one of the most ambitious water projects of its kind in South Africa at the start of the twentieth century. Lani van Vuuren reports. Lani van Vuuren The construction of the Vaal Barrage was the first attempt to tame the waters of the Vaal River. Even before the official end of the Anglo Boer War in 1901, British authorities commissioned an investigation into the possible damming of the Vaal River. The gold mines and industries of the Witwatersrand needed water, and local sources (mostly groundwater) were diminishing at a rapid rate. In its final report the appointed commission of enquiry was critical of the Vaal River, however. This was mainly because the river was still the de jure border between the two Boer republics at war with Britain. After the conclusion of the Anglo Boer War in 1902, the river was the border between two British colonies.

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