Fabulous filtration

The water that collects naturally on the mountains of the Cape is a reddish-brown colour due to the nature of the vegetation and rock, and although it is perfectly sweet and clean, people were uncomfortable with it, so in 1935 work started on a filtration plant on the slopes of Table Mountain at Kloof Nek. The water that came from the Hely-Hutchinson and Woodhead reservoirs on top of Table Mountain was filtered through the plant and emerged in the taps of homes in Cape Town as crystal clear water. The plant is housed in this beautiful redbrick building which was designed by Patrick Henry Thomas Shillington and Franklin Kaye Kendall for the Cape Town City Council. You can see it at the start of the walk along the Pipe Track above Camps Bay at Kloof Nek.