Rietvlei Dam

Rietvlei Dam
Location of Rietvlei Dam in South Africa
Official nameRietvlei Dam
CountrySouth Africa
LocationPretoria, Gauteng
Coordinates25°52′36″S 28°15′57″E / 25.8767°S 28.2658°E / -25.8767; 28.2658
Construction began1932
Opening date1934
Owner(s)City of Tshwane
Dam and spillways
Type of damearth-fill
ImpoundsRietvlei River
Height32 m
Length350 m
Reservoir
CreatesRietvlei Dam Reservoir
Total capacity12 377 m3
Catchment area0.4 km2
Surface area1.89 square kilometres (189 ha)

The Rietvlei dam is an earth-fill type dam and is one of a number of dams supplying water to the Pretoria region of South Africa. It supplies around 41 million liters of drinking water daily, about 5.9% of the water requirement of Pretoria. The dam mainly serves for municipal and industrial use. Its hazard potential has been ranked high (3).

Constructed as an earth-fill dam wall with a brick core in 1932/4, it was extended between 1988 and 1990 by raising the dam wall with the addition of a concrete wave wall and a reinforced earth barrier wall, as well as a surfaced roadway, on top of the original wall.

The dam is fed by the Rietvlei, a river of the Crocodile River (Limpopo) basin, as well as by five fountains and five boreholes.

The Rietvlei Nature Reserve occupies the area immediately surrounding the dam.