Dams and reservoirs in Australia is a link page for any
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 ...
or
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 ...
in Australia.
Australian Capital Territory
There are three key water storage facilities located in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
. The fourth source of water for Canberra, Googong Dam, is in NSW. In addition, there are four smaller man-made reservoirs used for recreation and as traps for sediment and fertilizers
.
New South Wales
There are dams, weirs, catchments, and barrages in
New South Wales
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, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
[ Of these, 135 facilities are considered major dams according to the ]Australian National Committee on Large Dams
The Australian National Committee on Large Dams (abbreviated as ANCOLD) is an Australian-based non-government, non-profit and voluntary association of organisations and individual professionals with a common technical interest in large dams and t ...
.[
]
Dams and reservoirs
The largest reservoir in New South Wales is the Lake Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains, formed by the Eucumbene Dam.
Weirs and barrages
Cancelled and decommissioned
Northern Territory
There are 805 named water storage facilities located in the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
.[ Of these, four facilities are considered major dams according to the ]Australian National Committee on Large Dams
The Australian National Committee on Large Dams (abbreviated as ANCOLD) is an Australian-based non-government, non-profit and voluntary association of organisations and individual professionals with a common technical interest in large dams and t ...
.[
]
Queensland
Dams and reservoirs
There are 183 key water storage facilities located in 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
, established_ ...
. These facilities represent a total capacity of for Queensland. This does not include privately owned off-stream storage sites used for water harvesting.
Weirs and barrages
South Australia
Adelaide catchment
*Barossa Reservoir
Barossa Reservoir is a reservoir in the Australian state of South Australia, built between 1899 and 1902 to supply water to Gawler and other northern country areas. Built at a cost of almost A£170,000 the reservoir was hailed on completion as a ...
– ''The Whispering Wall''
* Clarendon Weir
*Happy Valley Reservoir
The Happy Valley Reservoir is a water reservoir located in the southern Adelaide suburb of Happy Valley, South Australia. Constructed when the total population of Adelaide numbered 315,200 (1893 census), the Happy Valley Reservoir now supplies o ...
*Hope Valley Reservoir
The Hope Valley Reservoir is a service reservoir in Hope Valley, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.
When completed in 1873 it was the second reservoir constructed in Adelaide; it is the oldest still in use in South Austra ...
* Kangaroo Creek Reservoir
*Little Para Reservoir
Little Para Reservoir is a reservoir in South Australia serving the city of Adelaide. It was built between 1974 and 1977, costing A$11.5 million, and commissioned in January 1979.
The reservoir is built in the path of the Little Para River and is ...
*Millbrook Reservoir
Millbrook Reservoir is a 16,000-megalitre artificial water storage reservoir in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. It was built from 1914 to 1918 during World War I to control water flows in the upper River Torrens and provide gravity-fed wate ...
*Mount Bold Reservoir
Mount Bold Reservoir is the largest reservoir in South Australia with a maximum capacity of over forty-six thousand megalitres. Costing A$1.1 million, the reservoir took six years to construct on the Onkaparinga River system between 1932 and 19 ...
*Myponga Reservoir
The Myponga Reservoir is a reservoir in South Australia, located about 60 km south of Adelaide near the town of Myponga. The reservoir is fed by the Myponga River and other rivers in the Myponga catchment.
It provides about 5% of the City ...
*South Para Reservoir
South Para Reservoir is the second largest reservoir in South Australia, behind Mount Bold Reservoir, and the principal reservoir of the South Para River system. The reservoir's large capacity of around 45,330 megalitres and its location in the ...
*Thorndon Park Reservoir
Thorndon Park Reserve is a public park in the Adelaide suburb of Paradise, South Australia, Paradise, South Australia. It was originally the site of the Thorndon Park reservoir, which was completed in 1860. The reserve became accessible to the pub ...
(Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
's first reservoir, built in 1860, decommissioned and reestablished as a recreational park in 1986)
* Warren Reservoir
Regional South Australia
* Aroona Dam
* Baroota Reservoir
*Beetaloo Reservoir
The Beetaloo Reservoir is a currently unused reservoir in the southern Flinders Ranges locality of Beetaloo Valley in the hills east of Port Pirie in the Mid North region of South Australia.
The Beetaloo Reservoir no longer supplies drinking wa ...
*Bundaleer Reservoir
Bundaleer Station was a pastoral lease that operated as a sheep station in South Australia.
It is situated approximately south of Jamestown and north of Spalding.
The property was established in 1841 by John Bristow Hughes and occupied a ...
* Blue Lake
*Goolwa Barrages
The Goolwa Barrages comprise five barrage structures in the channels separating Lake Alexandrina from the sea at the mouth of the River Murray and the Coorong in South Australia. They were constructed principally to reduce salinity levels in ...
* Hindmarsh Valley
*Middle River Reservoir
The Middle River Reservoir is located on the north of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is situated on the Middle River and has a catchment of approximately .
Construction of Middle River Reservoir was started in response to a doubling of ...
* Tod Reservoir
Tasmania
There are 103 dams in Tasmania
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, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
.[ Of these, 100 facilities are considered major dams according to the Australian National Committee on Large Dams.][
]
Dams and reservoirs
The largest reservoir in Tasmania is the Lake Gordon
Lake Gordon is a man-made reservoir created by the Gordon Dam, located on the upper reaches of the Gordon River in the south-west region of Tasmania, Australia.
Features
The reservoir was formed in the early 1970s as a result of the dam const ...
in the South West
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 ...
region of the state, formed by the Gordon Dam
The Gordon Dam, also known as the Gordon River Dam, is a major gated double curvature concrete arch dam with a controlled spillway across the Gordon River, located in South West Tasmania, Australia. The impounded reservoir is called Lake Gordon. ...
. , 44 per cent of all the dams in Tasmania were constructed for the purpose of generating hydro-electricity
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 an ...
.[
]
Victoria
Melbourne Water area
* Anakie Gorge
*Cardinia Reservoir
Cardinia Reservoir is an Australian man-made water supply saddle dam reservoir. The water store is located in Emerald–Clematis– Dewhurst in south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Construction started in May 1970 and was completed in 1 ...
*Devilbend Reservoir
Devilbend Natural Features Reserve is a natural reserve park in the rural suburbs and localities (Australia), locality of Tuerong, Victoria, Tuerong on the Mornington Peninsula in central southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, ...
*Greenvale Reservoir
Greenvale Reservoir is an off-stream water storage dam in northern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It has a capacity of . The dam was opened 18 April 1973 and is now managed by Melbourne Water.
It is situated in the upper Yuroke Creek catchment ...
*Melton reservoir
Melton may refer to:
Places
* Melton, Victoria, a satellite city outside Melbourne, Australia
** Electoral district of Melton, the Victorian Legislative Assembly electorate based on Melton
** Melton, Victoria (suburb), a suburb of Melton
**Melton ...
*Maroondah Reservoir
The City of Maroondah is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Maroondah had a population of 117,498 in June 2018.
The City of Maroondah was created through the amalgamation the former Cities of ...
*O'Shannassy Reservoir
The O'Shannassy Reservoir is an Australian man-made water supply dammed reservoir. The water store across the O'Shannassy River is located near the locality of , approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria. The dam that creates the impoundment i ...
*Silvan Reservoir
The Silvan Reservoir is located in Silvan, Victoria, Silvan about east of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It has a capacity of . The reservoir is operated by Melbourne Water.
Operations
Silvan is an off-stream storage res ...
*Sugarloaf Reservoir
Sugarloaf Reservoir is a reservoir at Christmas Hills 35 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district.
History
The structure was completed by Thiess Brothers in 1981, and has a total capacity of 96 gigalitres.
Sugarloaf Reservo ...
* Tarago Reservoir
*Thomson Dam
The Thomson Dam is a major Clay core and rockfill embankment dam with a Uncontrolled, Ogee-shaped overflow weir and chute spillway across the Thomson River, located about east of Melbourne in the West Gippsland region of the Australian stat ...
*Toorourrong Reservoir
Toorourrong Reservoir is a small water supply reservoir located on the southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range approximately north of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The reservoir is formed by the Toorourrong Dam across the Plenty River, and ...
*Upper Yarra Reservoir
The Upper Yarra Reservoir is located east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, beyond Warburton within the locality of Reefton. Water from Upper Yarra Reservoir supplies towns in the upper Yarra Valley, and Silvan Reservoir, which transfers water t ...
*Yan Yean Reservoir
Yan Yean Reservoir is the oldest water supply for the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
At the time of its completion in 1857 it was the largest artificial reservoir in the world. It is north of the city within the eponymous locality of ...
Regional Victoria
* Blue Rock Dam
*Cairn Curran Reservoir
Cairn Curran reservoir is situated along the Loddon River near the townships of Baringhup, Newstead and Welshmans Reef in Victoria, Australia. Constructed between 1947 and 1956.
Primarily an irrigation reservoir it is home to an active yacht ...
*Dartmouth Dam
Dartmouth Dam is a large rock-fill embankment dam with an uncontrolled chute spillway across the Mitta Mitta, Gibbo, and Dart rivers, the Morass Creek and a number of small tributaries. The dam is located near Mount Bogong in the north-east ...
*Lake Eildon
The Eildon Dam or Eildon Weir, a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a controlled spillway across the Goulburn River, is located between the regional towns of and within Lake Eildon National Park, in the Alpine region of Victoria, Aus ...
*Lake Eppalock
Lake Eppalock is an Australian reservoir in North Central Victoria about northwest of Melbourne. It was formed by the construction of a major earth and rockfill embankment dam, known as Eppalock Dam, with a controlled chute spillway across th ...
* Glenmaggie Dam
*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 ...
*Laanecoorie Weir
Laanecoorie Weir or Laanecoorie Reservoir, is a water storage for irrigation and domestic purposes on the Loddon River, near the towns of Laanecoorie, Victoria and Eddington, Victoria. It was constructed by contractor Andrew O'Keefe (engineer ...
* Lauriston Reservoir
* Malmsbury Reservoir
* Moondara Reservoir
* Rocklands Reservoir
*Upper Coliban Reservoir
Upper may refer to:
* Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot
* Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both
* ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found f ...
* Waranga Basin
*William Hovell Dam
The William Hovell Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a flip bucket chute spillway across the King River, located in the Hume region of Victoria, Australia. The purposes of the dam are for irrigation and the generation of hydroe ...
Barwon Water area
* Allen Reservoir
* Bostock Reservoir
* Korweinguboora Reservoir
* Marengo Basin
* Painkalac Reservoir
* Stony Creek Reservoirs
* West Barwon Reservoir
*West Gellibrand and Olangolah Reservoirs and No. 4 & No.5 Basins
* Wurdee Boluc Reservoir
Western Australia
Metropolitan Supply
Great Southern Region
South West Region
See also
*List of dams and reservoirs
The following is a list of reservoirs and dams, arranged by continent and country.
Africa
Algeria
# Djorf Torba Dam
# Keddara Dam
# Koudiat Acerdoune Dam
# Meraldene Dam
# boughrara Dam
# Beni Bahdel Dam
# Mafrouch Dam
# Si ...
* Lakes of Australia
*Lakes and Reservoirs in Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital city of southeastern Australian state of Victoria and also the nation's second most populous city, and has been consistently voted one of the most liveable cities in the world. Located on the northern/eastern coastal p ...
References
External links
Melbourne Water Reservoirs
Sydney Dam levels and statistics
Dams of Western Australia
SE Queensland Dam Levels
Lake Awoonga, Via Benaraby near Gladstone in Central Queensland
{{Dams and Reservoirs
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 ...
Dams
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 ...
Reservoirs
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 control ...
*
Dams and reservoirs