Katse Dam
| Katse Dam | |
|---|---|
Katse Dam
|
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| Official name | Katse Dam |
| Location | Lesotho |
| Coordinates | 29°20′13″S 28°30′22″E / 29.33694°S 28.50611°ECoordinates: 29°20′13″S 28°30′22″E / 29.33694°S 28.50611°E |
| Purpose | Irrigation and domestic |
| Opening date | 1996 |
| Owner(s) | Kingdom of Lesotho |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Arch dam |
| Impounds | Malibamat'so River |
| Height | 185 m (607 ft) |
| Length | 710 m (2329 ft) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 1.950 km3 (1,580,891 acre·ft) |
| Surface area | 3,580 ha (8,846 acres) |
The Katse Dam, a concrete arch dam on the Malibamat'so River in Lesotho, is Africa's second largest dam. (The Tekezé Dam, completed in early 2009, is now Africa's largest double curvature dam). The dam is part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas.
The potential of the project was identified by the South African civil engineer Ninham Shand (now Aurecon) as a possible means to supplement the water supply to South Africa. The World Bank arranged for a treaty between the governments of South Africa and Lesotho, allowing execution of the project to proceed.
The dam was built by a consortium of Bouygues, Concor, Group 5, Hochtief, Impregilo, Kier Group and Sterling International. The dam was completed in 1996 and the reservoir filled with water by 1997. The total cost of the project was US$8 billion.
The mass of water gave rise to induced seismicity. Farmers who lost land to the project have had trouble re-establishing new livelihoods. There is little arable land in the mountains to replace all that was lost, and efforts to help them with new livelihoods have by no means been as successful as the engineering works. A local group has documented the project's human legacy in the rural communities directly affected by the project, and the environmental and human-rights NPO, International Rivers, produced a detailed account of the effects.
As mitigation of the loss of habitat, plant rescue missions were conducted in the area to be flooded, and Katse Botanical Gardens was established to house and propagate the plants rescued.
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