Hazelmere dam close to completion

The raising of the Hazelmere Dam wall is expected to be complete early next year.

This is according to Sputnik Ratau, spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation.

This mammoth task is part of an intervention by the Department of Water and Sanitation after drought in recent years exposed the inadequacy of the current storage capacity to meet the growing demands of the North Coast region.

Hazelmere Dam, located on the Mdloti River, was originally constructed as a concrete gravity dam in 1976.

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According to Ratau the design has subsequently been changed to incorporate an uncontrolled spillway in the form of a “Piano Key Weir” (PKW) structure.The stabilisation of the wall involves the use of steel cables anchored in the rock surrounds of the dam wall. Overall, the dam’s wall will be raised by seven metres.

“This will increase the yield that can be supplied to the northern part of eThekwini Metro and the northern coastal strip by an additional 20 Ml/day,” said Ratau.

The dam is currently at 98% of the previous full supply level, with a current capacity of 17 million cubic metres. The new capacity after the raising of the dam wall will be 37 million cubic metres.

“PKW technology was employed as the technically favourable and cost effective option for the project. Group Five Coastal under the supervision of Ingerop South Africa, are retrofitting the PKW concept to an existing dam spillway structure.”

Ratau said the unique features in the employed technology include: the world’s highest Piano Key Weir, the largest capacity post-tensioning stressing jacks deployed on a dam project, the world’s largest sacrificial trial anchor programme, the first use of the Anchor Test software in a post-tensioned dam and the use of innovative data management software to provide real-time assessment of anchor performance with respect to the acceptance criteria.

Ratau said there had been a few delays in the project, predominantly due to unforeseen construction challenges influenced by the dam foundation treatment. The current contractual completion date is January 15 next year.

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