Osborne Dam

Osborne Dam is an earth embankment dam, creating a reservoir with a surface area of 2600 hectares, storing 400,000 megalitres on the Odzi River, a tributary of the Save River, in Zimbabwe The catchment area is 1392 km² the embankment is 66 metres high, crest length 1007 metres and the volume of earth in the embankment is 5.1 Million cubic metres. The spillway is the "drop inlet" type with a crest radius of 15.7 metres, a 6 metre diameter shaft and conduit conveys the overflow to the flip bucket. The catchment area of 2 400 square kilometres stretches up to the source of the Odzi river in the high rainfall area just south of Juliasdale. The construction was financed with aid supplied by the Italian Government, the main contractor was Salini Costuttori SpA, with local subcontractors K.W.Blasting doing tunneling and hard excavation. It is operated to supply water to irrigation schemes in Chimanimani and Chipinge Districts.