Minor flood warning as Sydney dam spills
Updated April 20, 2012 08:19:52
The weather bureau has issued a flood warning for the Nepean-Hawkesbury Valley in Sydney’s north west, with the news that Warragamba Dam has started spilling over again.
Water began spilling over the dam’s drum gates last night.
When combined with water from the Upper Nepean, it is expected to result in a minor flood peak at North Richmond bridge later tonight.
The Sydney Catchment Authority’s Ian Tanner says Warragamba’s drum gates will open to allow out more water sometime this morning.
“It’s the central gate, there are two gates on either side, so there’s five gates all together,” he said.
“It will let out a certain amount of water, if it can’t let out enough then the other four gates will open up.
“We’re not expecting those four gates to open up because there’s not a lot of water coming into the dam at the moment.”
Heavy rain again this week has caused flash flooding in Sydney and prompted hundreds of calls to the SES.
The Greens say that, despite the heavy rain, Sydney’s desalination plant is still producing 14 million litres of water a day.
Greens MP John Kaye says money is being wasted.
“One month of desalination operation is about 1.1 million dollars at current rates,” he said.
“That is 1.1 million dollars worth of water that will flow straight over the spillway and out into the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s householders’ money that is being completely squandered.”
The Warragamba Dam spilled last month, for the first time in 14 years.
Topics:floods, richmond-2753
First posted April 20, 2012 07:43:14
