Situated on the Free State side of the Vaal River just 38kms Southeast of Vereeniging on the  R716, but can also be reached via the R 54 from the R59 and the N3, or the R549 from Heidelberg.  The drive from Johannesburg takes about an hour to an hour and a half depending on the time of day or day of the week.

Magical properties are often experienced by visitors and residents - all seem to agree that when travelling down from the cities at the first glimpse of the waters of the dam - stress seems to disappear and a relaxed feeling takes over. 

For years, the extensive waters of the Vaal Dam seemed to belong to the sailboat owners and the many clubs around the shoreline specialised in membership for sailors. However, the majority  of clubs and marinas now cater for the powerboat owners arriving in ever increasing numbers from Harteebeespoort and the Vaal River concourse - the water quality there being
dubious. The waters of the dam are declared clean from pollution - after all at the end of the day we have to drink it.

Often described as the gateway to the Vaal Dam - Deneysville offers easy access  no matter what type of craft you have, this is one of the easiest places to access the extensive waters. Boat owners are more than adequately provided for with three yacht clubs and two marinas where boats can be launched or kept on moorings. For the casual power boat visitor there are
several options available for launching boats and jet-ski's one of the favourites is the Water Sports Club.

The Water Sports Club is very popular amongst  fishermen and power boater owners and several types of fish can be caught there including Bass, Yellow Fish, Barbel, Carp and Mudfish and for boaters there is a launching ramp and jetty. Shaded lapa's are provided with braai facilities and camping is permitted with toilets and a warm water shower available. Entrance fees are payable and quite reasonable.

Facilities of the club are maintained by the owners of the Safari shop which is situated in the shopping centre close to the Friendly Grocer. A large range of fishing equipment and baits are available.  Further information about the club or fishing equipment can be had by contacting Isabel on 082 895 3819 

The village consists of around 1200 houses and about half are owned as leisure properties or weekend cottages. Others are owned by retirees who enjoy the peaceful and relative crime free village atmosphere.  In fact the village is a haven too for the many commuters who would rather make the daily trek and back to Johannesburg or Pretoria rather than live in the cities.

Crime incidents are low in Deneysville despite being adjacent to a large township -  the Deneysville news reported only two break-ins last month - November 2009 - but there has been virtually no serious crime for years. Of course Deneysville has a committed police force and a station in the village and residents regularly consult with police on keeping crime to a minimum.
Apart from the Police station there is a Post Office, two supermarkets a well stocked hardware store and a library. There are several restaurants and bars serving reasonable price meals as well as a couple of take away's.

Several  pastimes available for retired people apart from the boat clubs the main one being the bowling club but we also have a bird club, bridge nights and even dancing classes. The village is  very quiet in the week – only coming to life at weekends when the visitors come down from Gauteng. Believe it or not Deneysville is actually in the Free State being south of the Vaal River.

During the Depression years of the 1930s the building of a dam on the Vaal River was suggested by the then Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, as a means of providing work for the unemployed. Skeptics of the Vaaldam said, "it will never fill up." Work started in 1935 and the dam was completed in 1938 and today it covers and area of 32,060 hectares. Storage capacity is 2,536 million m3 and it is the fourth largest dam in South Africa. The Dam supplies water for domestic, mining, industrial and irrigation use in the PWV area from Pretoria in the North to the Vaal Triangle in the south, Bethal in the east and Rustenburg in the west. The concrete wall and earthfill has a crest lingth of 714 meters and 60 gates control the water flow. During a flood, 15 m3/s of water can be released. There is an interesting historical exhibition at the dam wall and visitors will learn mre about the role of Water Affairs and Rand Water Board who are responsible for the supply of clean fresh water. By the late 1930s within a short timeof its completion, the Vaaldam was full. During its history  floods have occurred in 1944,1974 as well as in 1997.

At a later stage, a pipe-line and canal were installed to lead water to the Suikerbos Water Purification Plant which, in turn, pumped purified water to the ever-increasing number of reservoirs as water consumption increased. As a result, the Vaaldams wall required raising. This was done in the 1950s by using stell sluice gates on top of the existion concrete structure. Again the pessimists were heard saying: "it will never hold," and "it will never fill up." The wall held and the dam filled up to a new level within the next rainy season! The concrete wall was reinforced on the downstream side and the earth retaining wall was raised by a further 2.76 meters. The dam’s water had to be supplied to the ever - growing needs of the Pretoria/Witwatersrand/Vaal (PWV) area, and so anoher wall raising project was undertaken during 1985. The steel sluice gates were simply heightened so that, according to the old measuring system, ti held up to 125% - a measure still used in 2006 The highest level of 124% was attained in 1997after an extremely heavy series of rainstorms, which filled the dam within 2 weeks after having been down to about 16% through and extended drought. Again silencing the comments suggesting that it’ll never fill up in our life time.

The water from the Vaal River, below the inflow of the contaminated Klip River, could no longer be purified economically, so the Old Klip Purification Works in Vereeniging was eveturally closed in favaour of the enlarged Suikerbos Water Purification Plant, as this used mostly uncontaminated water from the Vaaldam.The plant is now under the management of the Rand Water Board.

Upstream from the Vaal Dam are other feeder dams notably:  the Groodraai Dam near Standerton, and the deep Sterkfontein Dam near Harrismith, Both of which feed into the Wilge River. The Katse Dam in the Lesotho Highlands was built to suppliment the system when required.