After 150 years Pretoria’s Fountains still a source of life

Abstract

Water History The city of Pretoria was found in the immediate vicinity of an artesian water source. This source (called the Fountains to this day) is an unusually strong and consistent source – the only water source for Pretoria from 1855 until 1935. Moreover, it yielded (and still does today) water of very good quality. Pretoria was registered as a town on 16 November, 1855. The Commandant-General of the Transvaal Republic, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, considered it the ideal location for the establishment of a new capital due to its abundant water supply and the natural contours of the area. His motivation for registration was that it was ‘well situated to build a city with large and unlimited available area and water’ . The town would be called Pretoria in honour of his father, Andries Pretorius, the Voortrekker leader prominent in South African history after his role in Natal between 1838 and 1848. The water source was in the form of two springs located in the small Fountains Valley on the farm Groenkloof.

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