Rain causes Burdekin dam to overflow for third time in 2022
The mighty Burdekin Falls Dam is full and spilling water for the third time this year – sparking calls for urgent action to increase the it’s capacity.
Townsville
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The Burdekin Falls Dam is spilling for the third time this year.
A spokesman for SunWater said the dam reached capacity and started spilling on November 30 after recent rainfall in its huge 130,000sq km catchment.
“Residents downstream of the dam can expect increased river flows and should remain vigilant. SunWater will keep the community informed as conditions change,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said it was the third time the dam had reached capacity this year after the dam had spilled from February to March and again from May to August.
“The dam sits in a very reliable catchment, and it is not uncommon for it to fill and spill numerous times in a wet season,” the spokesman said.
“It has only been below 50 per cent capacity three times in its history and has not overflowed across a wet season on only two occasions – in 1993 and 2015.”
The spokesman said SunWater continued to progress a Detailed Business Case and Environmental Impact Statement into the Burdekin Falls Dam Improvement and Raising projects.
A raising of between 2m and 6m is being studied but some say it should be raised 14.6m, the full height proposed when stage one was built in 1987.
Townsville dam engineer Dick Cerny said the dam needed to be upgraded to meet the higher rainfall and water flows being caused by climate change and the standards set by the Australian National Committee on Large Dams.
Mr Cerny said the dam needed to be able to release flows of about 145,000 cubic metres per second — more than twice its current capacity and around 70 times the flood flows being experienced in the Murray River at present.
He said the catchment and its location in the tropics meant it was a huge resource, much of which was being wasted.
Water which flowed over the dam each year could produce $100m worth of hydro electricity, he said.
“All this water is going to waste,” Mr Cerny said.
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Originally published as Rain causes Burdekin dam to overflow for third time in 2022
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