Mazowe Dam


The Mazowe Dam is a dam on the Mazowe River in Zimbabwe, in the Iron Mask Hills about north of Harare. Constructed in 1920, it was built mainly to provide irrigation for the Mazoe citrus estates. The dam was also home to the Hunyani Rowing Club and formerly provided facilities for St. Georges, Prince Edward, Arundel and other rowing clubs. It is the only major dam on the Mazowe River.
The concrete dam was built by the British civil contractor Pauling & Co. and was raised by in 1961 by drilling into the foundation rock and installing post-tensioned tendons into the concrete. It is high and long, with overflow spillways on either side. It can hold 35 million cu m of water and has a surface area of 445 ha when full. However, prolonged drought in the first two decades of the 21st century has left the dam virtually empty, badly damaging local agricultural production. It had previously almost dried up in the droughts of 1984-85 and again in 1996, but even after the breaking of the most recent drought the dam has remained empty.