As a part of its 2005/06 dam safety programme, the State Water Corporation of New South Wales, Australia, is investigating the safety of the 82.3m high Wyangala dam, and will continue with the upgrades to the 55m high Keepit dam.
The investigations at Wyangala will focus on the long-term safe performance of the dam to meet NSW Dam Safety requirements to ensure on-going delivery of services to water users, communities and the environment. Although, Wyangala dam on the Lachlan river is safe for day-to-day operations and can easily handle the known worst floods on record, preliminary investigations have indicated that Wyangala may not meet modern safety standards for extreme floods and earthquakes.
The ongoing Keepit dam upgrades include improvements to flood discharge capacity to deal with extreme floods, and post tensioning the concrete dam wall to provide additional earthquake resistance. The dam, constructed between 1940-61 on the Namoi river, provides water supply and hydro power.
The State Water Corporation, created on 1 July 2004, incorporates all of NSW’s bulk water delivery functions outside of the areas of operation of the Sydney Catchment Authority, Sydney Water Corporation, Hunter Water Corporation and of other water supply authorities. It owns 19 large dams and one small dam, and manages another 11 small dams on behalf of the Department of Lands. Additionally, State Water owns and manages more than 280 weirs and regulators.