Lake Eucumbene

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Lake Eucumbene
Location Snowy Mountains, Southern New South Wales
Coordinates 36°08′S 148°42′ECoordinates: 36°08′S 148°42′E
Lake type reservoir
Primary inflows Eucumbene River
Primary outflows Eucumbene River
Basin countries Australia

Lake Eucumbene (pronounced you-come-been) is a man-made lake on the Eucumbene River in the Snowy Mountains of Southern New South Wales in Australia. The lake was created by the damming of the river as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The dam was built between 1956 and 1958.

Eucumbene Dam is an earthfill dam 116 metres high and 686 metres thick at the base. It is the largest reservoir in the Snowy Mountains scheme Its storage capacity is 4,300 million cubic metres, and is stated to be nine times the volume of Sydney Harbour.[citation needed]

Lake Eucumbene is connected by tunnels to the Snowy and Murrumbidgee Rivers, and to Tumut Pondage and Tantangara Dam.

Lake Eucumbene pictured 5th November 2006
Lake Eucumbene pictured 5th November 2006

[edit] Human Environment

The remains of the sunken town of Adaminaby, on the banks of Lake Eucumbene.
The remains of the sunken town of Adaminaby, on the banks of Lake Eucumbene.

The town of Adaminaby was on the site proposed for the dam. Most of the buildings in the town relocated to a site on the Snowy Mountains Highway, but some buildings were not flooded and remain at Old Adaminaby which, along with Anglers Reach is a popular destination for fishing holidays for introduced trout.

As of April 2007, the waters of Lake Eucumbene had receded so far due to drought that Old Adaminaby began to reveal itself after being underwater for over 50 years.

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