Warragamba Dam is a heritage-listed dam in Warragamba, Wollondilly Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It is a concrete gravity dam, which creates Lake Burragorang, the primary reservoir for water supply for the Australian city of Sydney, New South Wales.
The dam impounds the Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, and Warragamba rivers, within the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment; and the dam wall is located approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) to the southwest of Sydney central business district, near the town of Wallacia. Constructed between 1948 and 1960, the dam created capacity for a reservoir of 2,031 gigalitres (4.47×1011 imp gal; 5.37×1011 US gal) and is fed by a catchment area of 9,051 square kilometres (3,495 sq mi). The surface area of the lake covers 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi) of the now flooded Burragorang Valley. Enhancements to the dam were completed in 2009, including the addition of an auxiliary spillway to manage extreme flood events.
The dam was devised as part of a collective engineering response to Sydney's critical water shortage during World War II and was originally known as the Warragamba Emergency Scheme. The dam is located in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of Warragamba in the Wollondilly Shire local government area New South Wales, Australia. The dam was designed and built by the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board from 1948 to 1960. The property is owned by WaterNSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
A small hydroelectric power station is incorporated into the design of the dam and may operate at times of peak discharge; but has rarely generated power in recent years.
In early March 2012, the dam spilled for the first time in fourteen years, as a result of heavy rainfall in the catchment during February 2012. This spill followed a period of prolonged drought which saw the dam fall to historic lows of below 33 percent in 2007. More details
The dam was devised as part of a collective engineering response to Sydney's critical water shortage during World War II and was originally known as the Warragamba Emergency Scheme. The dam is located in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of Warragamba in the Wollondilly Shire local government area New South Wales, Australia. The dam was designed and built by the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board from 1948 to 1960. The property is owned by WaterNSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.
A small hydroelectric power station is incorporated into the design of the dam and may operate at times of peak discharge; but has rarely generated power in recent years.
In early March 2012, the dam spilled for the first time in fourteen years, as a result of heavy rainfall in the catchment during February 2012. This spill followed a period of prolonged drought which saw the dam fall to historic lows of below 33 percent in 2007. More details
