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Lesotho Highlands Water Project; “Engineering Achievement of the Century”

https://www.smec.com/70years/portfolio/lesotho-highlands-water-project/

“This project has been the dream of engineers since the 1940’s,” says Chris Viljoen, General Manager Major Civil Infrastructure Projects. “It will be a fundamental chain link in the continued growth of both Lesotho and South Africa, and in particular the industrial heartland of Gauteng.”

Chris has been closely involved with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) since 1988. One of the world’s most successful regional water resources management schemes, the LHWP is both a technical marvel and a socio-economic feat. In 2006, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) named the scheme the Most Outstanding Engineering Achievement of the Century.

Lesotho is a landlocked, mountainous country in southern Africa with an abundance of water. It is completely surrounded by South Africa – an economically much stronger but water scarce nation. Both countries signed a treaty in 1988 to establish the Lesotho Highlands Water Project – an ambitious scheme comprising a system of several large dams and tunnels throughout Lesotho that delivers water to the Vaal Dam in South Africa while generating hydroelectric power for Lesotho.

At inception, the LHWP was designed to include four phases which were to be implemented over a period of 30 years and expected to ultimately transfer about 70 cubic meters of water per second to the industrial province of Gauteng in South Africa. SMEC* has been involved with the design and construction of major works for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project since 1988 when designs for the Phase 1A Works commenced.

Project
Lesotho Highlands Water Project