White gold and thirsty communities: the cold war, apartheid, and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) does not sell water. Rather, it sells gravity.1 Put another way, it sells the difference in altitude between the Lesotho highlands and the Vaal River watershed.2 Let me explain. The LHWP transfers water impounded behind massive dams along the Orange/Senqu River and its tributaries in northern Lesotho. The project constructed a massive series of tunnels to take the water under the Maluti Mountains and the Caledon/Mohokare River, depositing it in the Ash River. From there, it flows into the Vaal and hence into the homes of Gauteng residents fortunate enough to have access to piped water. While South Africa transfers a large sum of money every month to Lesotho because of this project, the government is not paying for the water, per se. Rather, South Africa pays Lesotho to host the dam and tunnel infrastructure. They pay a premium on the water because it is cheaper to have water impounded in Lesotho than in South Africa. See, the water that starts in the high mountains of Lesotho would naturally run downhill, emerging from Lesotho where the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces meet, where it will, according to international water law, belong to South Africa.