| Lake Burragorang | |
|---|---|
| from the air (April 2006) | |
| Lake type | Dammed water supply lake |
| Primary inflows | Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, and Wollondilly Rivers |
| Primary outflows | Warragamba River |
| Catchment area | 9,051 km² |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Max. length | 52 km |
| Surface area | 75 km² |
| Max. depth | 105 m |
| Water volume | 2,031 GL |
| Shore length1 | 354 km |
| Surface elevation | 110 m |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Burragorang is the water storage impounded by Warragamba Dam. It collects the waters of the Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, and Wollondilly Rivers. It is the major water storage for Sydney, Australia. It is located in the heart of the Blue Mountains, within the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site.
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Before the construction of the Dam, Burragorang Valley had been inhabited by white settlers since the 19th century. A number of farming towns (including the town of Burragorang) and coal mines were located in the area. All of these are now underwater.[1]
The reservoir's usable capacity is 2,027,000,000,000 L. Before the Deep Water Storage Recovery project completed in April 2006, the usable capacity was 1,857,000,000,000 L.
There are fears, however, that population pressures may stretch the reservoir's ability to furnish Sydneysiders with needed water well into the 21st century[2]. The city's population is rising by about 50,000 every year, and water restrictions were imposed late in 2003; a serious drought would complicate matters.
There have been times when the lake has been seriously depleted. Since it was last full in 1998 the Warragamba Dam catchment area has experienced extremely low rainfall, and on 8 Feb 2007 the lake recorded an all time low of 32.5% of capacity, although this had returned to 60% by late 2008.[1] To prevent any chances of water supply failure, the NSW State government approved the building of a Desalination plant at Kurnell to augment Sydney's water supply.
Lake Burragorang is surrounded by a 3 km wide exclusion zone to protect the integrity of the water supply; access into this zone is restricted. There are two access corridors for bushwalkers: Mount Mouin to Mount Cookem and Belloon Pass to Yerranderie.[2] Limited public vehicle access is allowed on fire trail W4 from Sheahys Creek to Yerranderie.
A hydroelectric power station at Warragamba Dam begins operating once the level in the reservoir reaches to within one metre of full capacity. Its output is 50 MW, but the dam water level has not been high enough for it to operate since 1998.
In the upper left corner of the view (below) looking roughly southeastwards are Sydney's western suburbs. A crooked corridor of development may also be seen leading through the forested mountains to Sydney suburbs of Katoomba and Blackheath (near the centre) and beyond.