Dam overflows first time since spillway raised

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George Municipality and the engineering community this week celebrated the success of the award-winning Garden Route Dam spillway as the dam overflowed for the first time since the spillway and dam wall was raised in 2019/20.

George Municipality Civil Engineering Services Acting Director Lionel Daniels said the heavy rainfall and flash floods that occurred on Monday had understandably overshadowed the dam’s overflowing on the same day (22 November 2021), but it remained a significant milestone in the city’s long-term water security. “There are many reasons we are celebrating this project including an increased capacity of 25% by raising the full supply level of the dam by only 2.5 metres. The ingenious duckbill-shaped spillway design improved the dam’s safety in a practical and cost-effective way that earned the designers, Zutari (formerly Aurecon), a win in the Technical Excellence category at the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) Awards in November 2020.

“The design is relatively new in the engineering world, and as far as we know is not being used in this way in South Africa. It was extensively researched and tested at the University of Tshwane and its shape is designed to slow down water flow using basic physics principles. The design is brilliant in its simplicity and it was a real victory to see the dam overflow and the spillway working so effectively,” said Mr Daniels.

The Garden Route Dam, situated just outside the north-east urban edge of George, is the main source of potable water for the city and its capacity had become a concern as the municipal area continued to grow exponentially since the early 2000s.

In addition, the Southern Cape had experienced two major droughts in seven years, which had been unheard of in this prolific all-year rainfall area. The dam recorded its lowest ever level of 16.9% in February 2010 and again dropped to 41,2% in September 2017.

The Garden Route Dam spillway and wall project was completed in January 2020 and increased the dam storage capacity by 25% from 10 million cubic metres to an estimated new capacity of 12,5 million cubic metres.

Project details:
The previous Garden Route spillway was 25m wide, which was extended to 80m by curving the spillway in the upstream direction. The new spillway consists of a reinforced concrete cantilever structure, which is unusual for hydraulic structures of this type, as these are normally self-stable by their mass. To enhance the stability, the structure is provided with rockfill on the upstream side of the wall footing, in addition to rock anchors.

Although the full supply level (FSL) of the dam was raised by 2.5 m, due to the local terrain the tallest portion of the new spillway wall is 4.9 m tall. A total of 1,780 m3 of concrete was used (750 m3 mass concrete, 300 m3 for the walls, 390 m3 for the wall footing, and 340 m3 for the channel).

The main dam wall was also raised by 1.76m to prevent overtopping by placing earth fill on top of the existing embankment. Selected material was placed as follows: general fill (12,500 m3), rip-rap (2,500 m3), filter sand (750 m3), and topsoil (2,050 m3).

Caption
The Garden Route Dam overflowed for the first time since its spillway had been raised in 2019. The award-winning bill-shaped design increased the dam’s overall capacity by 25% by raising the spillway by only 2.5m. Photograph George Municipality.

 

Press release written by ATHANE SCHOLTZ while working as Senior Communications Officer for George Municipality.

40 years at municipality for Adam Appels

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40 years for Adam Appels

Imagine a 20-something housing inspector on a bicycle in the early 1980s, the handlebar of his bike loaded with chains and locks, cycling in a rough neighbourhood on a mission to set tenants out of municipal houses and chain up the doors. Long before the formidable Adam Appels was Senior Manager of the Anti-Land Invasion unit, he was that guy on the bike. In June (2018) he had 40 years’ service in the municipality, most of which was under potentially dangerous circumstances.

“I remember a protest in the 1990s when a black coffin was marched through town bearing my name along with other housing officials, and petrol bombs were thrown at our houses. It got so bad, my family and I was forced to leave town for fear of our safety. When we returned a few days later we weren’t sure if our house was going to be standing.”

Mr Appels was appointed as messenger/cleaner at the George Municipality in 1978 at the age of 17. His manager, the late AB de Swart, recognised his potential and appointed him as a housing inspector five years later.

“When we started, Pierrie Prins and I would cycle to houses where tenants had to be evicted, doors locked and electricity shut down. It was heart wrenching work and people thought I was unfeeling, but it was my job and I was going to do it to the best of my abilities.”

A position as senior housing inspector was offered to both men. “Pierrie declined, he could not bear the emotional burden, but I thought it was an opportunity and I adapted to the circumstances.

“I decided to try and not take my work home, to not let the conflict of the day influence my mood at home. My family was the reason I made it through all the tough times.”

The scariest moment came one day in 1992 when he and two colleagues were cornered at gunpoint in a house in Borchards. “We just ran, jumped out the window and scaled fences until we were out of harm’s way – if we stayed we would have probably been dead anyway, so running was the only option.”

When the Anti-Land Invasion Unit was established, Mr Appels was the obvious choice to head the division and continues to work in the field with his staff. “If my people break down shacks I break down shacks, I don’t think of my myself as higher than them.”

In 2016 Mr Appels had a stroke, and was still in recovery when riots broke out in Thembalethu. He defied medical orders and insisted to be driven to the site to see if his team was doing alright. More recently he and two unit members slept at the Albricks site for two nights to ensure it not be illegally occupied.

“For the first time since the 1990s, the atmosphere feels similarly volatile. I have spent hours talking people down, trying to explain the reasoning behind not allowing people to just occupy land as they please. I have been working with local communities for a long time, and until now those that know me have come up for me during negotiations and protected me – people in Thembalethu call me ‘Apile’ (apple in isiXhosa). It’s all about communication and how you speak to people.”

While he has earned respect, his reputation as an ‘evictionist’ is unescapable.  “I would see someone in public and they would confront me for putting their families on the street when they were children.”

His unit also removes homeless people illegally sleeping on private property. “We don’t just chase them away. We see if we can reunite them with their families or get them into a shelter or programme. I’ve often paid out of my own pocket for a bus ticket or a place in a homeless shelter. This is the one aspect of my job where there are sometimes feel-good moments, when someone finds a job, is rehabilitated or goes home. It is great to play a role in drastically changing a life for the better.”

After a predominantly stressful career, Mr Appels thinks it is time to retire soon. “Looking back, I am grateful for the time and energy my former deputy director, Thys de Beer, had invested in me, giving me opportunities and guidance throughout. “Senior administration officer Lecrecia de Wet has been my right hand for 22 years and our Director Protection Services, Steven Erasmus, has shown me what true leadership is. To all the people who have worked with me over the years, thank you so much for your valuable contribution.

“To all staff in the municipality I say: I was an uneducated man when I started here, but I did my best always and was noticed for it. Things don’t just fall in your lap, you must work for it – it took five years for me to get my first promotion, 15 years for the second and nine years until my current position. The municipality is a great place to develop skills, but you must be patient and deserving – you can’t be here six months and start making all kinds of demands. Character and hard work are key.”

*We celebrate Mr Appels’ round number, but he is not the current employee with the most years at the municipality! Sewerage foreman Jusiah Phillips and Protection Services senior clerk Michael Ruiters have both been here 43 years. We hope to have interviews with them in future publications.

 

This article was written by ATHANE SCHOLTZ for Munindaba, George Municipality’s internal newspaper. The paper was started, compiled and edited by Athane as part of her duties as Senior Communications Officer for the municipality. The quarterly 8-pager was printed in colour on newspaper print and distributed to all employees across all divisions.

Athane wrote a series of articles on the municipality’s longest serving staff members for internal channels. If relevantly newsworthy, some stories were turned into press releases.