Here in Lesotho it is known as white gold: the water plays such an important role in the country’s economy.
The engineering marvel at its heart is unusual in the country’s highlands, as it sits among the pastoralists in traditional Basotho blankets and mud huts that characterize this rural area.
The Katse Dam is a seriously impressive feat of engineering. At 185m (600ft) tall, it is Africa’s second largest curved dam.
Completed in 1996, it is part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which was the result of an agreement reached ten years earlier between the governments of Lesotho and apartheid South Africa.
Although the country is completely surrounded by its much larger neighbour, it has something that some parts of South Africa do not: a regular water supply.
Due to its unique geography – Lesotho is the only country in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres – the country receives relatively high amounts of rainfall.
That’s where Katse comes in.
Water is diverted from the dam and through a series of tunnels to the Vaal River system in South Africa. It is the largest water transfer system in Africa.
The government says Lesotho receives $200 million (£154 million) a year from South Africa for the water – more than double what the country received after the deal was renegotiated earlier this year.
But despite Lesotho’s water-rich status, it remains economically poor. And nowhere is this more evident than in the village of Ha Ramokoatsi.
Although the town is only 1 km from the dam, its 200 inhabitants still depend on a small natural spring, located in a small cave in the hill, for their water supply.
On the day the BBC visits, there is a long line of women at 10am, carrying empty buckets of paint to carry the water home.
Some have been there since 3am. In the queue we meet 50-year-old Manteboheleng Mosiyoa, who arrived five hours ago.
“The water situation here is terrible,” she says, visibly angry.
“Sometimes when it rains, a dead dog can be washed into the well. We just have to get him out when we need the water, even if it’s polluted.”
She adds that drinking the water has affected her health, showing us an itchy rash on her wrist, which health workers say is the result of drinking contaminated water.
“We get sick regularly, even small children. They drink this water and get stomach complaints and pain.
“Sometimes you see little worms when you come to the water, but still we drink the water, because without water we cannot survive.”
At present the well is drying up, meaning Mrs Mosiyoa has to scoop the remaining water from a stagnant, waste-filled basin.
Village officials say that despite a series of promises from politicians dating back to 2020 that running water would be installed, they have heard nothing.
Village head Hlojeng Khetisa shows me the minutes in a notebook of meetings with the previous government.
“My message to this government is that they should come here and see how we live. We cannot have this beautiful dam built around our village and yet we are still living in poverty.”
That’s not a story you’ll hear on tours of the dam offered by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, which manages the project.
Our guide is happy to tell tourists about the fact that Lesotho generates half of its electricity from hydropower and about the roads that have been built thanks to the money earned from the dam.
Katse was the first dam, with a second opening in 2003. The third dam is expected to come into operation in 2028, with plans for five dams in total.
Despite the growth, Natural Resources Minister Mohlomi Moleko admits the project has not always been in the best interests of the communities living around it.
“We now – as Basotho – need to refocus. Our main focus going forward is to give water to the Basotho, and secondly, water transfer.
“We are now looking at providing water to the local population in 2030. That is what we are going to look at,” he added, adding that “he would bet his life” that the rollout will be completed by then.
The demand for Lesotho’s natural resources is only likely to increase.
Much of Lesotho’s water is diverted to Gauteng province, the economic heart of South Africa and home to South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg.
It is the largest city in the world not built on a water source, and the city of gold is growing thirstier.
Taps in cities are increasingly running dry due to a combination of crumbling infrastructure, growing population and emptying reservoirs due to climate change.
“Lesotho’s water is very important because it contributes a large part to South Africa’s GDP,” said Professor Anja du Plessis, a water management expert at the University of South Africa.
“However, the demand for water is not sustainable. Consumers use a lot of water, more than 200 liters per day, but 46% of the water that goes through the system does not reach the consumer, because of neglected infrastructure. It is a man-made problem at the moment.”
An agreement was also recently signed to transport water from Lesotho over a distance of more than 700 km to Botswana.
The residents of Ha Ramokoatsi will not benefit much from this economically.
Although she could see the Katse Dam from the window of her house, Ms Mosiyoa says it has not added anything positive to her life.
“This dam has done nothing for us. We don’t know anything about the money Lesotho is getting. Nothing has been done for us. We are really struggling.”
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