The Steenbras Dam ("STEE-un bruss"), now referred to as Steenbras Lower Dam, is a gravity concrete arch type dam located in the Hottentots-Holland mountains, above Gordons Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. It is one of the six large dams that make up the Western Cape Water Supply System. It is owned by the City of Cape Town and serves principally to supply water to that city. The dam wall is 28 metres (92 ft) high and 412 metres (1,352 ft) long; it impounds a reservoir of 36,133 megalitres (1,276.0×106 cu ft) over a surface area of 380 hectares (940 acres) when full.

In 1916 a Board of Engineers was appointed to report on a water augmentation scheme for the City of Cape Town. Their proposal was the Steenbras scheme which would consist of a concrete gravity and arch dam on the Steenbras River. This dam would be connected to the Molteno reservoir through a tunnel in the Hottentots Holland mountains and a 64 kilometre long cast iron pipeline. Work began on the scheme in 1918 and was completed three years later. The Steenbras scheme could supply Cape Town with up to 42 million litres of water per day although the average consumption was in the region of 29 million litres per day. The consumption however grew rapidly and it was not long before Cape Town once again had a water supply problem. To solve the demand for additional water supplies the Steenbras dam wall was raised and an additional pipeline was laid into the city. This work was completed in 1928. For much of the first half of the twentieth century it was the main reservoir for Cape Town but is now only one of many dams that supply the city. The hazard potential of Steenbras has been ranked high .

The dam is on the Steenbras River, which, in common with most rivers in the Western Cape, has a low sediment load and delivers water of very high quality. The river and dam are named after the steenbras, a fish endemic to South Africa.

Pipeline from Steenbras crossing the Lourensford River in Somerset West

In 1977 the Steenbras Upper Dam was constructed directly upstream. It is used for the Steenbras pumped-storage hydroelectricity scheme which supplements Cape Town's electricity supply during periods of peak demand.

The City of Cape Town is investigating strengthening and raising the wall to increase Steenbras Dam's capacity.

Hello there Droffarc. Good day and thank you for sharing this cool aerial video that you have filmed. Great work and keep flying. .

DJI Stephen Posted at 6-8 01:05
Hello there Droffarc. Good day and thank you for sharing this cool aerial video that you have filmed. Great work and keep flying.  .

It's a pleasure Stephen

Very nicely done Droffarc.    How  much taller are they planning to raise the wall?  Seems the current water levels indicates there is still room for more water capacity as is.  

Hope you have been having a great week.

Nice work Droff.  That will take some filling.

DowntownRDB Posted at 6-8 03:09
Very nicely done Droffarc.    How  much taller are they planning to raise the wall?  Seems the current water levels indicates there is still room for more water capacity as is.  

Hope you have been having a great week.

Hi Downtown, Unfortunately my sources are unable to divulge this information at present as this is all still in the informall planning stage. No-one has actually put pen to paper as it were. They will still need to call together a commitee to decide if they will set up a commission to investigate the feesablity (pun intended) and costs that may be involved, since there is a looming election on the horison. The current regime looks like they may not win the next election since the (new) president has allowed about 40million dollars in cash to be stolen from his farm and then paid the perpetraitors for their silence, and the incoming regime will have to rebuild the country from ruins. I think Sysiphus had it easy rolling a boulder uphill.

Blériot53 Posted at 6-8 03:49
Nice work Droff.  That will take some filling.

Thanks Mr B - you may be right in more ways than one

Droffarc Posted at 6-8 03:58
Thanks Mr B - you may be right in more ways than one

Yeah. Political landscape notwithstanding

Beautiful. Water and mountains together - hard to beat.

Droffarc Posted at 6-8 03:57
Hi Downtown, Unfortunately my sources are unable to divulge this information at present as this is all still in the informall planning stage. No-one has actually put pen to paper as it were. They will still need to call together a commitee to decide if they will set up a commission to investigate the feesablity (pun intended) and costs that may be involved, since there is a looming election on the horison. The current regime looks like they may not win the next election since the (new) president has allowed about 40million dollars in cash to be stolen from his farm and then paid the perpetraitors for their silence, and the incoming regime will have to rebuild the country from ruins. I think Sysiphus had it easy rolling a boulder uphill.

Man, that's definitely not good news.  Seems corruption is everywhere these days.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 6-8 05:26
Man, that's definitely not good news.  Seems corruption is everywhere these days.

All politicians lie

Depp Posted at 6-8 04:18
Beautiful. Water and mountains together - hard to beat.

Thanks, could do with some respectable (drone grabbing) trees also

Blériot53 Posted at 6-8 04:03
Yeah. Political landscape notwithstanding

You got it in 1

Droffarc Posted at 6-8 08:12
You got it in 1

Its looking a bit empty Droffarc,  is that normal?

Droffarc Posted at 6-8 08:10
All politicians lie

Without a doubt.  Lying, along with a capacity for backbiting, obfuscation, and double-dealing appear to be actual job qualifications for politicians.  i like this poster.

DowntownRDB Posted at 6-9 05:31
Without a doubt.  Lying, along with a capacity for backbiting, obfuscation, and double-dealing appear to be actual job qualifications for politicians.  i like this poster.

Yep, that's about right. Love the snake amblem.

DAFlys Posted at 6-9 00:59
Its looking a bit empty Droffarc,  is that normal?

Um? maybe it was low tide?  
It was taken when we were recovering from the drought. I will say though, I was also surpeised at the water level - Indeed I excpected more

Droffarc Posted at 6-9 08:22
Yep, that's about right. Love the snake amblem.

Me too.  

Droffarc Posted at 6-8 01:15
It's a pleasure Stephen

Hi there Droffarc. You are very much welcome and thank you for the reply. Nice new avatar and have a nice day. .

Droffarc Posted at 6-9 08:25
Um? maybe it was low tide?  
It was taken when we were recovering from the drought. I will say though, I was also surpeised at the water level - Indeed I excpected more

I suppose without monitoring it for a few years its hard to make any judgement.  

DAFlys Posted at 6-9 22:45
I suppose without monitoring it for a few years its hard to make any judgement.

Very nice to see!

Montfrooij Posted at 6-10 07:13
Very nice to see!

Glad you think so, sorry no trains  

Droffarc Posted at 6-10 08:26
Glad you think so, sorry no trains

No problem at all!

Wonderfully captured