Metolong - Lesotho's first RCC dam takes shape

Abstract

Water resource development When entering the Metolong Dam site, one is immediately struck by the bilingual signboard outside the gate advertising vacancies – one side English, the other Basotho. It is perhaps symbolic of the challenges of working on an international job site where different cultures – neither of whom speak hardly anything besides their mother tongue – have to work together to build a much needed dam for Lesotho. Unlike the other large dams in the Mountain Kingdom this one will not be supplying water to South Africa. Lesotho’s first roller compacted concrete (RCC) dam is meant to bring welcome relief to the capital of Maseru and surrounding villages of Roma, Mazenod, Morija and Teyateyaneng, which have been suffering severe water shortages in recent years due to rapid urban growth. Recent studies have shown that current urbanisation rates in Lesotho lie around 5.5%. Moreover, the dynamics of rural water supplies are changing dramatically with the shift to urbanised neighbourhoods.

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