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Click to view large map Coordinates: | An acute water shortage was precipitated with the influx of soldiers, farmers and their workers to the Graaf-Reinet district and town after the South African (Anglo-Boer) War. This set in motion a plan for a substantial dam on the upper reaches of the Sundays River at the confluence of four rivers (some intermittent), namely the Sundays River (or Nukakamma), Gatsrivier, Pienaarsrivier and Broederstroom. It was surveyed in 1918 and construction commenced in 1920. Excavations for the wall commenced in July of 1921. By November these had reached bedrock. Sand and stone was harvested from the immediate surrounds for the large volume of concrete required for its construction. Nearly 250 000 bags of cement were used in the dam wall alone, and around 2 200 cubic meters of concrete was poured into the main wall. The dam wall has a triangular cross-section, 30m at its deepest and widest point at the base, tapering to 3m at the causeway above. By November 1923 the base of the wall had reached the river bed. As construction proceeded the stepped sloped facing of the river downside took shape. A flooding of the Sundays River on 24 March 1924 delayed the final closing of the wall gap. Once the flood had subsided the closing of the gap proceeded. Provision was made for controlled release of the water for agricultural use as well as by the town. Three large desludging outlets help control the build-up of sedimentation. Once the wall was finished the work of final detailing of the the causeway on the wall with the addition of balustrading and lampposts could be done. In the course of construction the Van Ryneveld Pass had to be realigned higher up the slope of the river bank to its current location. It was officially opened a hundred years ago (2025) on the 14 July 1925. In 2001 the name of the dam, Van Ryneveld’s Pass Dam, was changed to 'Nqweba', the isiXhosa word meaning 'meeting place' or confluence. Located in the Camdeboo National Park, the dam has a catchment area of 3 800 square kilometres with a storage capacity of 80 million cubic metres covering 1 133 hectares when at its fullest. [See also The Heritage Portal; Wikipedia]. References:
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