Modelling, monitoring nuts & bolts of dam project

Abstract

The dam will have a gross storage capacity of some 130 million cubic metres, and will operate in conjunction with Theewaterskloof Dam in the Breede River catchment. The two dams are linked by the Riviersonderend inter-basin transfer tunnel, bored through the imposing Franschhoek mountains. The streams and runoff flowing into the Berg River Dam would only provide enough water to sustain a yield of approximately 56 million cubic metres per year. However, this will be supplemented by an abstraction works 9 km downstream of the dam – below the confluence of the Dwars River and a number of other tributaries – which in winter will divert water from the Berg River and pump it back to the dam or Theewaterskloof, from where it can be gravity-fed to Cape Town. The Supplement Scheme will increase the yield by 25 million cubic metres, bringing the total contribution of the Berg Water Project to 81 million cubic metres.

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