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Knellpoort Dam
Located in
South Africa :: Free State
Category:
Attraction :: Dam/Lake
Knellpoort Dam in the Rietspruit near Wepener, OFS Province of South Africa has a capacity of 130 million cubic metres. It was built in 1988 to augment the dwindling supply of water from the Welbedacht dam to Bloemfontein and has a wall length of 200m, a height of 50m and a surface area of 985 ha. It was the first arch gravity Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dam in the world. Knellpoort Dam functions as an off-channel storage dam with a relatively small catchment area of about 800 sq km. Water from the Caledon River is pumped to Knellpoort Dam from the Tienfontein Pumping Station via a 2 km long canal which is equipped with a silt trap to reduce siltation in the main reservoir. Siltation had previously caused the Welbedacht dam to lose 80% of its original capacity in 20 years. The Caledon-Modder (Novo) Transfer Scheme transfers water from Knellpoort Dam to Rustfontein Dam in the upper reaches of the Modder River basin to supply the Bloemfontein area.
| Address : | Wepener, Free State, South Africa |
|---|
15km West of Wepener and 100 km S-East of Bloemfontein.
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