The Lake Clarendon Dam is a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and earth-fill

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

with an un-gated spillway located off-stream in the locality of Lake Clarendon in the

Lockyer Valley Region The Lockyer Valley Region is a local government area in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland, Australia, between the cities of Ipswich and Toowoomba. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Gatton and the Shire of Lai ...

South East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

of the

Lockyer Valley The Lockyer Valley is an area of rich farmlands that lies to the west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and east of Toowoomba. The Lockyer Valley is rated among the top ten most fertile farming areas in the world, and the intensively cultiv ...

. The resultant impounded

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

is called Lake Clarendon.

Location and features

Located northeast of , the Lake Clarendon Dam is part of a number of small dams built above the Lockyer Valley to supply water for irrigation purposes. The long rock and earthfill structure has a maximum height of and an overflow

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

which diverts excess water into a series of open channels that eventually flow into the

Lockyer Creek The Lockyer Creek is a creek located in South East Queensland, Australia. A tributary of the Brisbane River, the creek is a major drainage system in the Lockyer Valley. Rising on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the creek fl ...

. The dam creates a reservoir, Lake Clarendon, with a storage capacity of and a maximum surface area of . The dam is managed by

SEQ Water Seqwater is a statutory authority of the Government of Queensland that provides bulk water storage, transport and treatment, water grid management and planning, catchment management and flood mitigation services to the South East Queensland re ...

. Completed in 1992, by mid-2006 the dam was empty due to

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

conditions in Australia. In January 2011, the dam was over 80% full according to the Queensland Water Commission website.

Recreation

A ''Stocked Impoundment Permit'' is no longer required to fish in the reservoir. Lake Clarendon was removed from the SIP scheme in 2012.

References

Clarendon Lockyer Valley Region Dams completed in 1992 Clarendon Rock-filled dams Earth-filled dams Embankment dams 1992 establishments in Australia {{Queensland-struct-stub

Location and features

Recreation

See also

References