After all the rain we had in Port Elizabeth the lake on Lakeside Road flooded its banks and closed the road for quite some time. I took a drive past there the other day to see how high it still was but it seems to have dropped back to its normal level. The lake is the biggest natural fresh water lake in Port Elizabeth. Just one problem. I can't really find what the lake's proper name is other than the area being…
In yesterday's post I wrote about the Bulk River and Sand River that flows into the Elands River west of Port Elizabeth. The Sand River Dam is fairly close to the Elands River Road while the Bulk River Dam can just be glimpsed from the road. In the picture is the Bulk River with the dam barely visible higher up the valley.
Port Elizabeth's earliest water supply came from the Shark River at Happy Valley and the Donkin Stream next to the Donkin Reserve. As the city started to grow in its early days of development the demand for water far exceeded this meager supply. After a competition held by the Port Elizabeth city council in 1862 to find proposals to supply the city with water, a weir and small dam was built in the Van Stadens River. This was later followed by…