Engineers NT Award

10 Sep 2008

10 September 2008 - News and Community Partnerships

Power and Water has won the Engineers Australia NT, 2008 Engineering Excellence Award for Reports, Procedures and Systems for its submission on raising the Darwin River Dam wall and embankment.

Congratulations to the Water Services team who together with consultants and other technical experts produced a series of investigations and reports covering engineering, cost, heritage and environmental impact studies that formed Power and Water’s Engineering Excellence Awards submission.  

Darwin River Dam, some 45 kilometres south east of the city was constructed in 1972 as the main drinking water supply source for Darwin and surrounding areas.

However, 30 years down the track the dam is nearing supply capacity for a growing population despite efforts to change the community’s water use habits to conserve this precious resource.

Power and Water is now proposing to raise the height of the main embankment and spillway at Darwin River Dam by 1.3 metres. The lift of 1.3 metres is the optimum height to maximise water yield from the dam at the lowest cost, and would give an extra 20 per cent storage capacity.

Raising the dam wall and spillway is the most practical option available for the next few years. The creation of any eventual new dam to meet long term growth will have greater environmental impacts, need extensive consultation and take at least 10 - 15 years to complete and fill.

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Phone: 0401 117 599