Wivenhoe Dam

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For other uses or the term, see: Wivenhoe (disambiguation)

Wivenhoe Dam is built across the Brisbane River about 80 kilometres from the centre of Brisbane, Queensland. It creates an artificial lake called Lake Wivenhoe.

The dam was designed as a multifunctional facility and built in the late 1970s - early 1980s by a consortium of constuction companies including Theiss.

Its primary function is to provide a safe water supply to the people of Brisbane and adjacent regions.
It is also the lower storage in a pumped-storage, hydro-electric generating facility, the Wivenhoe Power Station.
Additionally to that, during a flood the dam is designed to hold back 1.45 million megalitres of additional water for flood mitigation.

1 Key facts
2 Statistics
3 Construction
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Key facts

Wivenhoe Dam consists of an earth and rock embankment 2.3 kilometres long and 50 metres high. It has a concrete spillway section on which five steel crest gates are installed. The gates at 12 metres wide and 16.6 metres high, are amongst the largest of their type in the world.

The dam has a total storage capacity of 2.61 km³, of which 1.16 km³ is used for urban water storage.

200 properties were acquired to provide the 337.50 square kilometres of land required for the dam.

The catchment area is 5,554 square kilometres.

The dam holds twice as much water as Sydney Harbour and is about seven times bigger than Hinze Dam at the Gold Coast.

Wivenhoe Dam does not supply the Gold Coast.

[edit] Statistics

Catchment area: 5 554 km²
Average annual rainfall: 940 mm
Capacity – water supply: 1 165 000 ML
Capacity – flood storage: 1 450 000 ML
Submerged area at full supply level: 109.4 km²
Stream Bed Level at Structure (AHD): 23 m
Full Supply Level (AHD): 67 m
Spillway Level (AHD): 57 m
Embankment or Crest Level (AHD): 79 m
Type of Structure: Embankment (4 000 000 m³) and Concrete (140 000 m³)
Year of Completion: 1985
Length of Wall: 2 300 m
Shoreline: 462 km
Spillway Gates: 5 x 12.0 m x 16.6 m
Regulator Valves: 2 x 1.5 m diameter
Average Evaporation (mm/year): 1 872
Hydro Electric Station/dam structure: 4.5 megawatts
Design: Queensland Water Resources Commission

Source

[edit] Construction

Wivenhoe was initially investigated for a dam site in the 1890s and again in 1933^[1]. Further investigations into a dam began in the mid 1960s. In November 1971, Government approval was given to proceed with construction. Acquisition of lands of the submerged portion of the dam began in March 1973. In 1976 the Government gave approval to proceed with construction of the pumped storage hydro-electric scheme. Total cost for the hydro-electric project was $450 million.