Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme

The Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the world covering 369.50 square kilometres in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is named after the Vaal River and the Harts River; it being a major tributary of the Vaal River.

Water from a diversion weir in the Vaal River, near Warrenton, flows through a 1,176 km long network of canals. This system provides irrigation water to a total of 39 820ha scheduled land, industrial water to six towns and other industrial water users.

Each plot feeds off of the canals running past their "front" access from their respective streets into their own reservoirs with their own hatch from the canal. The water then goes through pumps to be sprinkled across the farmland. The most popular method to do this is with pivots. Historically, there were no dams or pumps to speak of. They made use of a process called "leiwater" and simply let the water flow directly from the canals into channels dug into the ground to irrigate it.