Water Works of Cape Town

Stadsfontein Main Spring, Molteno Reservoir and Hydroelectric Power Station

I have just completed another fascinating tour around parts of Cape Town that I have never been to. The tour participants were 15 university students all studying some form of engineering.

We started off by having a guided tour of the Kloof Nek Water Treatment Plant. I am sure many tourists and Capetonians pass this building on their way up to the Lower Cable Car Station On Tafelberg Road. It is one of the oldest water treatment plants in Cape Town, completed in 1938, and is a standby plant kept in excellent condition by a group of really dedicated technicians that are obviously very proud of their facility.

Next, it was onto the Stadsfontein Main Spring and Water Collection Chamber in Oranjezicht. This is the original source of water that enabled Cape Town to be established in 1652. It still produces fresh clean water at an average rate of 3.5 million litres of water per day, about 40 litres per second. This water is now directed by a series of pipelines to Green Point where it is stored in a series of small reservoirs and used to water the Green Point Stadium, Green Point Common, the golf course, power a hydro-electric water wheel and flushes the toilets in the stadium.

We then went onto the Molteno Reservoir, constructed between 1877 and 1881 and still supplies water to the surrounding areas. The only Reservoir in Cape Town that allows the public to walk around it. At one end is the building that contained a hydroelectric plant that supplied electricity to Cape Town from 1895.

Our next stop was the Green Point Eco Park, right next to the Green Point Stadium. Beautifully kept with its own water wheel.

If you would like to see more of these hidden gems, then please get in touch on titealistair@gmail.com

The Water Wheel at Greenpoint Eco Park