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as a practical engineer and as a researcher of note. In 1906 he was awarded a prestigious prize

by the august Institution of Civil Engineers for a paper about preventing storm water from
entering foul sewers. His famous Formula was part of the dissertation.

Later that year, on the recommendation of the Chairman of the London County Council, he

was appointed Chief Engineer to the Municipality of Alexandria in Egypt, where, among
other works he was responsible for the construction of the promenade key-wall, and the main

drainage of the Eastern harbour.

John Parker was no doubt delighted when Lloyd-Davies, with an established reputation and

such excellent experience, accepted the invitation to become the first City Engineer of

Greater Cape Town.

Lloyd Davies took office at the beginning of 1914. His immediate challenge was to integrate
the activities of seven independent municipalities which made up the new authority, and to

create a staff structure that would accommodate the various officials who had been uprooted
from their village portfolios. No doubt there were some who resented the change, but service

delivery had to be maintained.

While this was in progress he turned his mind to the pressing problem of water supply. He

believed that his City should administer an organisation which would supply the entire
region, and he laid the foundations for the Cape Bulk Water Undertaking which would serve

all authorities in the region for the foreseeable future. He then put his mind to augmenting the

supply from across the Cape Flats, and to assist him he constituted a Board of Engineers,
calling in a specialist from Glasgow Waterworks, Mr W. A. Tait, and the local expert Tom

Stewart. Together they considered the possibilities, and decided that a dam on the Steenbras
River would be the most favourable option. The most telling factor in making the decision

was probably that the delivery pipeline to Cape Town would be shorter than that from the

Franschhoek Valley.

The Dam that Grew

The decision had to be confirmed by a referendum of ratepayers, and with this hurdle
successfully negotiated, construction started at the beginning of 1917. The first dam was a