New dam for the Mzimkhulu
It will be built on the Ncwabeni River, a tributary of the Mzimkhulu and have a gross storage capacity of 15.5 million cubic metres of water.
TO relieve water shortages, a new dam is being planned on the Mzimkhulu River.
The proposed Ncwabeni Dam, about 20 km inland of Port Shepstone, is intended to improve the supply to the increasing water demand in Margate, Port Shepstone, Hibberdene and nearby rural communities.
The Water Research Commission’s latest Water Wheel magazine said there were plans to build the 47m high dam wall early next year. If construction was approved, the dam would deliver water by 2018.
It would be built on the Ncwabeni River, a tributary of the Mzimkhulu and have a gross storage capacity of 15.5 million cubic metres of water.
Known as an off-channel storage dam, it would function as a reservoir to capture water from the Mzimkhulu during the wet season.
In drier months, water from the dam would be released back into the river, which serves as the main water supply for Port Shepstone and other coastal towns.
According to Water Wheel, the off-channel design would protect the ecology of the Mzimkhulu. which was one of the country’s few remaining free-flowing rivers. The dam could also incorporate two fishways to allow fish to move between the two river systems.
An environmental impact assessment suggested that off-channel dams reduced the impact on water flow and silt movement in the main river. These dams also had the advantage of lasting longer as they did not fill with silt as quickly as a dam in a main river channel.
