Dikgatlhong Dam

The Dikgatlhong Dam is a dam near the village of Robelela on the Shashe River in Botswana, completed in December 2011. When full it will hold. The next largest dam in Botswana, the Gaborone Dam, has capacity of.PurposeThe dam is located on the Shashe River three kilometers below the confluence with the Tati River, about northeast of the town of Selebi Phikwe. It is upstream of the Botswana - Zimbabwe border. The project should increase the secure supply of water for Gaborone, Francistown, and towns and villages along the North-South route for the foreseeable future. It will eventually deliver another per second of raw water delivery to the north-south carrier pipeline. Water will also be fed to the Palapye coalfields and to the proposed 3,600 MW power station at Mamabula. Project costs for the dam were around P1,134 million (US$300 million). The pipeline would cost another P1,127 million. The reservoir may also attract tourists drawn by wildlife, water sports and local food, if facilities are developed.StructureThe dam is a zoned earthfill structure, high and long. The earthworks contain about of material, including of clay core from borrow pits and of embankment shell obtained from the spillway channel excavation. The quality of available clay was marginal and required careful selection, treatment and quality control. A layer of broken rock riprap thick protects the upstream side from wave action, and a layer of less coarse rockfill thick protects the downstream side. The rock, and aggregate for concrete production, came from an on-site quarry.