Sunday, August 30, 2026 Search My Trip EnglishChinese
World news · travel · culture
Taiwan The Taiwan Times
Taiwan's window to the world

Berg River Dam

The 366th tallest dam in the world

68 m · 223 ft

The Berg River Dam is a 68-metre (223 ft) high dam on the Berg River in South Africa. Situated between the towns of Franschhoek and Paarl, it is the centerpiece of the Berg Water Project (BWP) which is designed to capture the winter rainfall and store it for supply to Cape Town during the dry summer months. The project in turn forms an important part of the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS), an intricate system of dams and bulk water infrastructure that provides water to more than 3 million people. At the inauguration of the dam in 2009, then President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe called the project "a good example of how public infrastructure projects can be used to contribute meaningfully to poverty eradication and to foster social empowerment of the people." The Berg River Dam was the first dam in South Africa to be designed and constructed in accordance with the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams. It has been completed on time and within budget. The Berg River basin and the adjacent metropolitan area of Cape Town are of particular importance to the Western Cape region because, although the basin generates only about 3% of the country's water resources, it is home to about 8% of South Africa's population, and produces about 12% of GDP. The Berg River Dam (Autshumato Dam) was completed in 2007 at cost of R1.5 billion. It was designed and built in accordan

Dam data from Wikidata (CC0) plus curated additions. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

More dams in South Africa

  1. Vanderkloof Dam108 m
  2. Sterkfontein Dam93 m
  3. Pongolapoort Dam89 m
  4. Gariep Dam88 m
  5. Goedertrouw Dam88 m

Other tall dams worldwide

  1. Rogun Dam · Tajikistan335 m
  2. Shuangjiangkou Dam · China312 m
  3. Norak Dam · Tajikistan300 m
  4. Grande Dixence dam · Switzerland285 m
  5. Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam · Russia245 m
  6. Oroville Dam · United States234.7 m
  7. Bhakra Dam · India225.6 m
  8. Hoover Dam · United States221 m