GEORGE NEWS - The Van Kervel Dam in the Garden Route Botanical Garden reached full capacity on Monday 4 June and started overflowing for the first time since the dam's wall was restored earlier this year.
Restoration had to be done following damage caused by the flash floods that hit George in November 2021. The wall was already fragile due to hollow tree roots left by dead trees that had been killed by polyphagous shot hole borer beetles.
The downpour of about 200mm in a day was the tipping point, causing the dam wall to break.
George Municipality decided to restore the wall and the project received a municipal disaster recovery grant from the national disaster management centre due to the high risk of the dam wall breaking. Restoration work started in January 2024 and took about three months to complete.
About 3 000 cubic metres of clay was compacted in layers on the dam wall, after which the top soil was restored. No trees will be planted on the dam wall; only plants with shallow root systems.
The wall restoration was the first ever since the damn was built in 1875, 149 years ago! "The dam wall actually did quite well," said the pleased botanical garden curator, Christiaan Viljoen.
He explained that the first furrows to guide mountain water for townspeople in George were built in 1812 and once those weren't enough, a larger dam was built in the nearby wetlands in 1823, which was later replaced by the Van Kervel Dam.
Today the dam is mainly used to irrigate the botanical garden. But, despite having access to such a large water reservoir, the botanical garden lacks the infrastructure to utilise it properly.
"We still need to source water at great cost from the municipality, because we don't have the right equipment to extract water directly from the dam," said Viljoen.
He estimated that an upgrade that will allow them to properly utilise the dam's water and work for more than 20 years will cost about R120 000.
The Van Kervel Dam has reached maximum capacity and is overflowing for the first time since the dam wall was restored earlier in 2024.
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