The Eildon Dam or Eildon Weir, 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 dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

with a controlled spillway across the

Goulburn River The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the Australian state of Victoria. ...

, is located between the regional towns of and within

Lake Eildon National Park The Lake Eildon National Park is a national park in the Central Highlands region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is set in the northern foothills of the Central Highlands, approximately northeast of Melbourne and abuts the shores o ...

, in the

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The dam's purpose is for the

supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ag ...

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

, and the generation of

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

. The 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 Eildon.

Location and features

Designed by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria, construction of the original water storage, which was known as Sugarloaf Reservoir, took place between 1915 and 1929 to provide irrigation water for what was a vast uncultivated area on Victoria's northern plains. The dam was modified in 1929, and again in 1935 to increase the storage capacity to . However, this reservoir was still limited in its capacity to meet the growing demand for water in the

Goulburn Valley The Goulburn Valley is a sub-region, part of the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The sub-region consists of those areas in the catchment of the Goulburn River and other nearby streams, and is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. T ...

and to protect farmers during drought years. Following a detailed feasibility study of all possible storage sites on the Goulburn River, it was decided that the existing dam site was the most suitable for construction of a larger dam. In 1951, work began to enlarge the storage to its present capacity. The enlargement was completed in 1955 and the storage was renamed Lake Eildon. The embankment dam wall is constructed with an earth core and rock fill, rising to a height of . The core component materials of the wall include of rock and earth. With a catchment area of that includes the Goulburn, Delatite,

Howqua Wu Bingjian (; 17694 September 1843), trading as "Houqua" and better known in the West as "Howqua", was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the '' E-wo hong'' and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the wor ...

Big Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

, and Jamieson rivers and several minor tributaries, the reservoir covers an area of . The reservoir has a capacity of with an average depth of , and can release a maximum outflow of approximately via its controlled spillway. The crest of the uncontrolled spillway is and is approximately long. Lake Eildon is connected to the metropolitan water supply of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, the

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals * List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population * List of national capitals by area * List of capital c ...

, via a

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

from the Goulburn River. On average, 91% of the water from Lake Eildon goes to the

Goulburn Weir Goulburn Weir is a weir built between 1887 and early 1891 across the Goulburn River near Nagambie, Victoria, Australia. It was the first major diversion structure built for irrigation development in Australia. The weir also forms Lake Nagambie ...

and the

Waranga Basin The Waranga Dam is a major earthfill embankment dam with an uncontrolled spillway located approximately north of Melbourne in the North Central region of the Australian state of Victoria. The impounded off-stream reservoir is Waranga Basin an ...

before it flows to irrigators in the Goulburn Valley system.

Power generation

Operated by

AGL Energy AGL Energy Ltd () is an Australian listed public company involved in both the generation and retailing of electricity and gas for residential and commercial use. AGL is Australia's largest electricity generator, and the nation's largest carbo ...

, Eildon Hydroelectric Power Station is a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

that operates during the irrigation season from August to May; its operation is mainly governed by release of water to meet irrigation demands, but it may also be operated during winter and spring when flood releases can be used to generate electricity. The power station can also be used to meet short term emergency power needs resulting from industrial disputes or plant breakdown elsewhere in the State's power grid. Initially completed as part of the Sugarloaf Reservoir with just of hydroelectric generating power, capacity was increased by 1957 to through the installation of two turbines. The first

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...

was commissioned in 1956, and a second in 1957. In addition, there are two turbines; these were decommissioned in 1971, but recommissioned in 2001. These smaller turbines were relocated from the former Sugarloaf Power Station on the Eildon Weir, completed in 1929 and in use until work on the larger dam started in 1951. This renovation of the oldest turbines in 2001 led to a generation capacity of . A pondage below the dam temporarily detains water discharged from the power station and regulates releases downstream to minimise variations in flow due to intermittent power generation. In 1995 the Eildon Pondage Power Station, a small hydro-electric station with output was installed on the pondage. Eildon Power Station has four turbo generators, with a total generating capacity of of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

. It produces an average of around of electricity per annum.

Houseboats

As the only inland waterway where houseboats are permitted, Lake Eildon has a thriving houseboat culture with over 700 on the lake. There is a Private Harbour and a Public Harbour. Rental of houseboats is possible in the latter. Some boats are restricted to daytime operation due to lack of lighting. The Private Harbour manages the owners' houseboats with staff and facilities that cater to over 18 marinas. Both harbours provide fueling facilities.

Drought and recovery

During the drought years in Victoria in the 2000s, Lake Eildon rarely filled and the once-thriving holiday destinations around the lake were unable to attract visitors, leading to considerable economic hardship. Although water is in great demand for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, careful regulation has kept outflows fairly static. During November 2006 the lake dropped to a low of only 15% from the previous year level of 48.3%. The lake reached as low as 5.3% in 2007. After many years with below average rainfall, 2010 saw Lake Eildon receive above average rainfall and rose from 23% of capacity in May 2010 to be 82.5% as of March 2011. In October 2022, due to an abnormal amount of rain in the region, the lake filled up to 100.4% of its capacity for the first time since 1994.Elvin, S. (2022, October 18). ''It's rained so much a lake has filled up for the first time in 28 years.'' Metro. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/18/australia-a-lake-has-filled-up-for-the-first-time-in-28-years-17584598/

In film

The nearby town of Bonnie Doon was the location for the holiday scenes in the movie, ''The Castle''. Lake Eildon was also the main location used for the 1975 feature film version of '' The Box,'' as well as the 1989

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

Australian horror film

Houseboat Horror ''Houseboat Horror'' is a 1989 Australian slasher film that was shot on video, and then released to video in 1989. It is often described by critics and audiences as one of the worst Australian films ever made. Plot A film crew composed of med ...

Gallery

Image:EildonConstruction1954.jpg, During construction of a new embankment,

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

Image:Lake Eildon Panorama.jpg, A panoramic mosaic of Lake Eildon, circa 2000. Image:Lake_Eildon_MP1.jpg, Lake Eildon in circa 2006. Image:Merlo's Lookout (2007-02-19).jpg, Lake Eildon from Merlo's Lookout in early 2007, showing one of the boat ramps now clear of the water. Image:Peppin Point.JPG, Peppin Point, Nov.2010

References

External links

Lake Eildon Tourism Website

Goulburn-Murray Water - Lake Eildon

Lake Eildon Challenge multi sports event
{{Lakes of Victoria , state=collapsed Goulburn River

Eildon Eildon is the largest committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, with a population of 34,892 at the census in 2001. It also contains the three Eildon Hills, tallest in the Scottish Borders. Places in Eildon References See also *Subdivi ...

Embankment dams Rock-filled dams Earth-filled dams Dams in the Murray River basin 1929 establishments in Australia Dams completed in 1929 Hydroelectric power stations in Victoria (Australia)