The tunnel corrosion protection process is done every five years and the maintenance process is expected to protect the infrastructure for another twenty to thirty years.
The maintenance project is critical for ensuring the integrity of the water tunnel systems, which supply 60% of Gauteng’s water demand. The Lesotho Highlands Project’s Divisional Manager for Development and Operations, Reentseng Molapo says this is a complex process. “Everyday of the year, we are continuously transferring water so this time around 30th of September at midnight we are shutting down, no more deliveries. From that time on, we open the valves – we take the water out of the tunnels now. It will take about two weeks to three weeks to take that water out of the tunnels. It has to be taken out in a slow controlled fashion because you want to allow the tunnel to still maintain its integrity it has to feel as though there is still water inside.
It’s all systems go for the closure of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Tunnel scheduled for 01 October 2024 – March 2025. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.