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Date: 1922 Client: Sundays River Irrigation Board Type: Dam Style: Industrial Archaeology : Utilitarian Status: Extant   Click to view large map Coordinates: 33°12'20.73" S 25°08'53.93" E Alt: 234m

Also called Lake Mentz The primary objective of building the dam was to provide adequate and perennial supplies of water for large-scale irrigation in a fertile area, particularly by storing and controlling flood waters. By 1917, the Sundays River Irrigation Board was established and took over the project from the government's Irrigation Department in 1918. The construction experienced many setbacks, including lack of materials and machinery, with shortages caused by the First World War, unsuitable labour (returning soldiers), the 1918 influenza epidemic, bubonic plague, very difficult logistics and drought. The delays in completion caused severe financial difficulties to the irrigation companies and eventually the State had to take over the debts of the irrigators and £2,350,000 had to be written off. The dam was completed in 1922 and only filled by 1928, the delay a result of extensive drought. (See Wikipedia for extended information).