The Department of Water and Sanitation has completed the construction of Cornelis River Dam.
The completion of the dam will ease water challenges faced by the community of Warden/Ezenzeleni area under Phumelela Local Municipality in Free State.
The dam, with a storage capacity at spillway level of 4 500 000 m3, is set to benefit 2 690 households and an estimated 10 674 people. The concrete spillway was designed to safely accommodate the regional maximum flood level without overtopping the non-overspill crest when the dam is full. The surface area of the dam, at full supply level, is 98 hectares.
Phumelela Local Municipality had identified the need to establish sustainable raw water resources due to the unreliable current water resources. The dam at Warden is badly silted and has no capacity left for raw water storage and was posing a risk of contamination from a nearby communal kraal.
The dam was built to ensure a sustainable and long-term solution for water supply problems that had been experienced in the Warden/Ezenzeleni region. The water supply problems were due to the unprecedented residential development of Ezenzeleni. The high rural to urban migration and changing water use pattern due to the introduction of water borne sewerage systems under the bucket eradication programme places additional stress on the existing infrastructure and sources.
Cornelis River Dam was completed on 8 July 2018 and stretches 23 metres in length and the wall is 205 metres.
https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa
