Seven months after the start of the maintenance work at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), water transfer and delivery tunnels have been completed and the process of refilling the tunnels with water is underway.
The water from Lesotho started arriving on Wednesday, 21 May, at the Little Caledon tunnel and is expected to arrive at the Ash River Outfall Works in Clarens in the Free State today.
The LHWP tunnel system was closed on 1 October 2024 for six months for a joint maintenance operation undertaken by the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) on a Delivery Tunnel North within South Africa, and the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency (LHDA) on the Transfer and Delivery Tunnel South in Lesotho.
The tunnel was scheduled to reopen in March, but due to maintenance work delays experienced in the Delivery Tunnel South on the side of Lesotho, the closure was extended to allow the maintenance work to be completed. In South Africa, the maintenance work was on schedule and was finalised on 19 March.
The filling of the tunnel started with the filling of the Muela Dam in Lesotho between 13 and 17 May. The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the TCTA are closely monitoring the flow of water filling the Delivery Tunnel North in South Africa.
The Little Caledon tunnel plays a crucial role in supplying water to Free State and Gauteng and supplies more than 400 million cubic meters (mᵌ) of water to the Vaal Dam annually.
The ministry of Water and Sanitation is expected to witness the tunnel water outflow at the Ash River Outfall Works on Sunday, 25 May.
