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modest little masonry structure, about 9 metres high, which impounded 2,730 megalitres.

(Fig. 3.32.) A pipeline 64 km long delivered the water to the Molteno Reservoir in
Oranjezicht above the city. The work was started by a contractor, but he pulled out after a

few months “due to the difficulties of working in wartime” and the bulk of the work was
done by a departmental unit led by Stanley Lunn, who would succeed Lloyd-Davies as City

Engineer.

The delivery pipeline which in itself was quite a major undertaking, was aligned along the

original road to Somerset West, through Kuils River, Bellville and the present Voortrekker
Road to the city. After further severe water restrictions during the summer of 1919-20

(supply was limited to 4 hours per day), the thirsty city could rejoice when the first Steenbras

water flowed into the Molteno Reservoir at the end of 1920.

Lloyd-Davies and his colleagues had realised that the little dam was only a temporary
solution to Cape Town's problems. Perhaps it was good handling of the politicians, because

with the ability to deliver now firmly established, it was much easier to get a positive
decision out of the Council. Thus in 1926 work began on raising the dam wall. Besides the

distinguished Board of Engineers, the site staff included some of the rising stars in the

profession: Jack Hawkins, the Resident Engineer would go on to found the well-known firm
of Hawkins Hawkins and Osborn (invariably known as H20) and a young Ninham Shand was

his assistant.

The work was more than a simple raising of the dam wall. By then concrete had become the

established construction medium, and the entire masonry structure was enveloped by the new
material. (Fig. 3.33.) The capacity of the reservoir was thereby increased ten-fold. An

additional pipeline was also built across the sandy wastes of the Cape Flats to a new supply
reservoir at Newlands. Now at last the City Engineer could relax as the new dam could cope

with the demand for water for another twenty years.

Other Achievements of Lloyd-Davies

Lloyd-Davies had other pressing challenges apart from the Steenbras scheme. There were

roads to construct to meet the requirements of modern motor traffic; housing schemes were
needed to accommodate the poor; and the Southern Suburbs was in dire need of sewerage.