Case Study: City of Cape Town achieves automated, real-time dam monitoring and early-warning detection with Trimble

City of Cape Town - Customer Case Study

Steenbras Lower Dam, a 415 m long mass-concrete dam serving Cape Town’s water supply, faced the challenge of needing continuous, high‑precision structural and environmental monitoring to protect the asset and downstream communities. The remote mountain location and local wildlife (baboons) also complicated communications and equipment protection, while the proximity to the city demanded a reliable system that could double as a training and demonstration facility.

Trimble provided a complete automated monitoring solution: a protected instrument cabin with a Trimble total station, GNSS receivers, crack gauges and tiltmeters, a weather station, onsite servers and software, and a satellite radio link to the City of Cape Town. Operating since 2012, the system delivers real‑time displacement and crack data (including a 3 mm crack jump alarm in 2015), heat‑map visualizations and remote reporting—improving safety, response capability and operational insight for dam operators.

City of Cape Town