Darlington Dam

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The Darlington Dam (formerly Lake Mentz ) is a reservoir in South Africa's Eastern Cape near the town of Kirkwood. The Sundays River was dammed in 1922 to the river valley for agricultural use to irrigate. Today, the water also comes from the Gariep Dam. The lake is 15 kilometers wide and 14 kilometers long.

Namesake of the dam has been the place Darlington, which was inundated by the impoundment. By 1995, the Lake Mentz was called. In 2000, the lake becomes part of the Addo Elephant National Park was.

History

Early irrigation projects

First thoughts on the construction of an irrigation system made ​​James Somers Kirkwood, an auctioneer from Port Elizabeth. He attended the Sundays River Valley in 1877. Unto him the area so well-liked, he bought a farm, and he settled there. After the purchase of additional land - 1883 he owned 21 farms with a total of 29 985 hectares of land - Kirkwood founded the Sundays River Land and Irrigation Company to perform to larger projects for irrigation in the area. However, Kirkwood went bankrupt because he could not find investors due to an economic depression.

1887 took over the Guardian Assurance and Trust Company of Port Elizabeth Kirkwood's estate and in 1903 sold to Strathsomers Estate Company. 1909 examined Strathsomers Estate in Korhaan 's Drift the grounds on which the irrigation project was planned. The project involved the construction of a diversion weir. However, the project was moved by a process. Strathsomers Estates right on the water use has been challenged, but was ultimately right. In 1911 started the construction work for the Koorhan's drift defense. In November of the following year the dam was completed. Use of the weir could be irrigated over 4000 acres of land, so it was at that time the largest irrigation system in South Africa.

Planning and construction

1913 visited the well-known author and businessman Percy FitzPatrick the plant. Shortly thereafter, he founded the Cape Sundays River Settlements Company, as it a permanent water supply needed for the cultivation of citrus fruits, which he planned in the area. The drought in the years 1913 to 1915 left many farmers are looking for new sources of income and also made it clear that water had to be stored permanently. A flood in 1916 made ​​this clear yet, because large amounts of water could not be used for irrigation. In response, the previously competing irrigation companies merged and the Government submitted a plan for a reservoir for water storage. After the government had approved the project, the Sundays River Irrigation Board was established, whose sole purpose was the construction of the reservoir. The state provides for the construction of Lake Mentz, as the lake was soon after the Minister of Lands Hendrik Mentz, called a loan. The loan was to be repaid by a usage fee for the irrigation channels that should be drawn from the body of the Bewässerungsgesellaft.

Already in mid- 1917 were the preparatory work has been completed and in March 1918 took over the Sundays River Irrigation Board directing the work of the Ministry of Irrigation to build the dam.

The gravity dam concrete should be about 300 meters long and 25 meters high. Six hydraulically operated locks should regulate the flow. Filled summed up the dam over 140 million cubic meters of water.

The construction of the dam turned out to be very difficult. One difficulty was that the next station was 40 kilometers away. Before start of construction about 30 kilometers of road had to be built through mountainous country. In addition, a telegraph line was established. These and the road was completed in 1918. Since the transport of building materials was carried out with the help of donkeys and there was little food for the animals in the mountainous countryside, in addition, all 13 kilometers between stations had to be set up to feed the donkey with drinking water. The lining always had to be dragged along. We have used up to 500 donkeys and 30 cars. In each case, 16 donkeys undergone a three -ton truck. On average, the 30 km long road was (both ways) ten times covered in the month. Another problem observed was the First World War, which was in full swing. Firstly, it was difficult to recruit workers. On the other hand, it was almost impossible to get right equipment and machines. Therefore often outdated and used equipment had to be purchased at exorbitant prices. The hired for the site former soldiers created new problems. They were not used to this way of working. In addition, many suffered from relapses of malaria, which they had suffered in the war. With a flu epidemic and the plague died a majority of the workers. A subsequent drought reduced the water supplies that were needed for the workers and for building. These delays meant that the dam was completed in 1922.

Subsequent changes in

Although some large sluices were built for washing out, there were big problems with the silting by the Eastern Cape widespread soil erosion. This meant that the dam wall had to be increased in 1935 by 1.5 meters. 1951, the dam was again increased to 5.8 meters. Then, the distribution channels were lined with concrete to 1962 70 km of the main channel and 155 kilometers.