Mohale Dam
| Mohale Dam | |
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Mohale Dam
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| Official name | Mohale Dam |
| Location | Lesotho |
| Coordinates | 29°27′24.20″S 28°05′45.18″E / 29.4567222°S 28.0958833°ECoordinates: 29°27′24.20″S 28°05′45.18″E / 29.4567222°S 28.0958833°E |
| Opening date | 2003-04 |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Embankment, concrete faced rock-fill |
| Impounds | Senqunyane River |
| Height | 145 metres (476 ft) |
| Length | 700 metres (2,300 ft) |
| Dam volume | 7,500,000 m3 (9,809,630 cu yd) |
| Spillway capacity | 6,000 m3/s (211,888 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Total capacity | 1.0 km3 (810,713 acre·ft) |
Mohale Dam is a concrete faced rock-fill dam in Lesotho. It is the second dam, under Phase 1B of the series of dams of the proposed Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas of Lesotho and South Africa. The project has been built at a cost of US$1.5 billion.
The Mohale Dam was awarded the 2005 Fulton Awards by the Concrete Society of South Africa as having the "Best Construction Engineering Project and Best Construction Technique."
The dam is built across the Senqunyane River below its confluence with the western tributary, the Likalaneng River. Investigation of the dam site in the "Highlands of Lesotho" has revealed "rounded, steep sided valleys" where the soil cover is thin and basaltic lava is the dominant formation. The dam site has been identified with two geological features of faults which needed treatment measures. The dam is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the east of Maseru, which is the capital of Lesotho. The dam drains a catchment area of 938 square kilometres (362 sq mi) over a river length of 60 kilometres (37 mi) with an elevation variation of 1,050 metres (3,440 ft).
Evolution of the LHWP was first initiated in the early 1950s by Sir Evelyn Baring, the South African High Commissioner to Lesotho. He realized the importance of the large water resources potential of the country, the only natural resource of the land-locked country. Subsequently, Sir Peter Ballenden, Director of Public Works, requested Ninham Shand, an engineer from Cape Town, to examine the potential of the project as a possible means to supplement the water supply needs in South African gold mines.
In 1983, the World Bank began implementing the project. Phase I covered some of the key strategic components of the project, while Phase IB's financing covered not only engineering design and supervision of the main works but an institutionalized framework with a panel of experts in the field of engineering and the environmental and social aspects of the project. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the European Investment Bank (IIB), and Export Credit agencies were also approached to finance the project.
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