<P> The ZAR government appointed a commission of enquiry in the same year to investigate the future of water supply and its quality . The commission handed down a recommendation that the management of water supply should be held by a public authority but this had not occurred before war broke out in 1899, the Second Boer War . In 1898, the Johannesburg Waterworks Company sunk boreholes on the farm Zuurbekom, under which was a natural aquifer of 466sqkm that would eventually produce 34, 09, 5000L a day . </P> <P> By 1901, the British forces were in control of Johannesburg, though the war continued elsewhere, and the idea of a public body to control water supply was resurrected with the formation of a municipal council and by November a commission of enquiry was formed . The Witwatersrand Water Supply Commission was formed on 4 November 1901 and after three months recommended the formation of the public Rand Water Board to supply water to the towns and mines of the Witwatersrand from Springs in the east and Randfontein in the west . </P> <P> With the creation of the Rand Water Board, bore holes were driven into river bed of the Klip River but by 1914, the Board decided to build a barrage on the Vaal River 64 km to the south of Johannesburg with the Vereeniging Pumping Station which was opened on 27 July 1923 by the Governor - General . Water was pumped through 137 cm pipes from the barrage at 1,432 m to a height of 1828m on the Witwatersrand . More water was still required and by 1937 the Vaal Dam was completed 80 km south - east of Johannesburg . </P> <P> The next major project was the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in 1998 that saw the construction of several large dams and pipeline transporting water from Lesotho to the Vaal Dam in South Africa . </P>

Where does rand water gets its raw water