Tugela Vaal Transfer Scheme

The Tugela Vaal water Transfer Scheme is an irrigation project developed in the Drakensberg mountains at the Oliviershoek Pass in South Africa.

[1] The project will thus allow the annual transfer from the Tugela basin (in KwaZulu-Natal) of 630 million m3 of water to the Vaal basin (in the Free State) in the north, and ultimately the Vaal dam in Gauteng.

[2][3] Various pumping stations and water reservoirs have been or are to be created or adapted as part of the implementation of this project.

A feasibility study using water supply from the Tugela basin in the vicinity of Bergville was launched in December 1996.

The transfer of water from the Tugela River to the Sterkfontein Dam was expected to begin in August 2019, but was delayed to December due to technical and safety issues.