Thomson River Dam

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Thomson River Dam
Creates Lake Thomson
Locale Gippsland, Victoria
(near Beardmore)
Maintained by Melbourne Water
Length 590 metres
Height 165 metres
Construction began 1976
Opening date May 1983
Reservoir information
Capacity 1,068,000 megalitres
Catchment area 48,700 hectares
Surface area 2230 hectares

The Thomson River Dam is located about 130km east of Melbourne in Gippsland near the township of Beardmore and the Baw Baw National Park.

Despite opposition from conservationists and farmers, plans for the dam were originally approved in late December 1975 to provide Melbourne with drought security. Early work in the early 1970s saw construction of a 19km long tunnel through the Great Dividing Range to allow water from the Thomson River to flow into the Upper Yarra Reservoir. Work on the dam itself commenced in 1976 and the dam wall was ready to contain water by 1983.

The tunnel, which is located at the northern end of the reservoir, allows water to be transferred west to Upper Yarra Reservoir and then onto Silvan Reservoir for distribution as drinking water in Melbourne.

In recent years, drought has resulted in depletion of much of the reservoir's water. As at 17th December 2006, the volume was at 204,737 megalitres (19.2% full). The dam was last full and spilling in October 1996.

The Thomson Dam was created as the Dam to ['Drought Proof'] [1] Melbourne.

[edit] External links

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