A comprehensive book about dams in South Africa, In the Footsteps of Giants – Exploring the History of South Africa’s large dams,is available from the Water Research Commission  following four years of painstaking research.

The author of the book, Lani van Vuuren, who isthe editor of The Water Wheel magazine, says her research took her on a nationwide tour to meet the people involved in the construction of South Africa’s dams.

The book launch, held on 30 May, was attended by many of the country’s most experienced engineers who have first-hand knowledge of South Africa’s largest and most innovative dam projects.

The glossy, full colour 340 page publication takes the reader on a journey through the history of South Africa’s largest dams, starting with the traditional attitudes and indigenous knowledge around water resources prior to European settlement and ending with a glimpse into the future of dam building in the country.

The vast majority of us in this country get our drinking water from dams, and water from dams is used to generate our electricity, power our industries and grow our food. In fact, South Africa has the largest number of dams in Africa (over 500 large dams) and was at one time one of the leading dam building countries in the world. Yet, few of us know which dams serve us, how they got there and who built them. The aim of the book is to educate and raise awareness about the country’s dams.

The big era of dam construction is now over and, apart from a few more projects, like the second Phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project; we are unlikely to see any new large dam projects in future. They form an important part of our national water heritage, and just like other water infrastructure, such as water and wastewater treatment works, they need to be maintained and looked after. We also need to use the water from the dams wisely – to make sure the people who toiled hard in the sun and extreme weather to build them did not do so in vain.

“South Africa has developed a large percentage of its water resources and there will be limited dam developments in the future. However, we need to look after our multi-billion rand dam assets by way of maintenance and rehabilitation,” says DanieBadenhorst, chairperson of the South African National Committee on Large Dams (SANCOLD).

“Dam safety is cardinal in this respect. Highly developed skills are required for rehabilitation, which is often more difficult than constructing a new dam. SANCOLD and the International Committee on Large Dams resources are in place to assist with such skills and information transfer,” explains Badenhorst.

“The book actually started as a series of water history articles in “The Water Wheel”. I first wanted to see how people would react to the articles, and what the demand for such a book would be. My first history article was on the Hartbeespoort Dam, which was originally completed in 1924, and it appeared in the May/ June 2008 edition of the magazine. I have been researching dam-related history for four years,” explains Van Vuuren.

On a lighter note she points out that she realised she had been working too long on the book when the staff at the national library began greeting her by her first name every time she walked through the door!

“The book has confirmed to me that, just like other people working in the water sector, engineers are hard-working, passionate people. Every dam project they tackle they do so in the hope that it will make a real difference to people on the ground. Without our extremely sophisticated water resources infrastructure network, this country would not have been able to develop. And for that we owe our engineers a great deal,” maintainsVan Vuuren.