Upper Nepean system

Lake Avon ; Avon Dam
	Avon Dam
Location:	East of the Australian state of New South Wales
Tributaries:	Avon River
Drain:	Avon River → Cordeaux River → Nepean River → Hawkesbury River → Tasman Sea
	New South Wales , Australia
Coordinates	34 ° 24 ′ 20 ″ S , 150 ° 40 ′ 30 ″ E
	Data on the structure
Construction time:	1921-1927
Height of the barrier structure :	72 m
Crown length:	223 m
	Data on the reservoir
Storage space	214.36 million m³

Lake Cordeaux ; Cordeaux dam
	Cordeaux dam No. 3
Location:	East of the Australian state of New South Wales
Tributaries:	Cordeaux River
Drain:	Cordeaux River → Nepean River → Hawkesbury River → Tasman Sea
	New South Wales , Australia
Coordinates	34 ° 22 ′ 0 ″ S , 150 ° 45 ′ 40 ″ E Coordinates: 34 ° 22 ′ 0 ″ S , 150 ° 45 ′ 40 ″ O
	Data on the structure
Construction time:	1918-1926
Height of the barrier structure :	57 m
Crown length:	405 m
	Data on the reservoir
Storage space	93.64 million m³

Lake Cataract ; Cataract Dam
	Cataract dam
Location:	East of the Australian state of New South Wales
Tributaries:	Cataract River
Drain:	Cataract River → Nepean River → Hawkesbury River → Tasman Sea
	New South Wales , Australia
Coordinates	34 ° 16 ′ 20 ″ S , 150 ° 48 ′ 40 ″ E
	Data on the structure
Construction time:	1907–?
Height of the barrier structure :	56 m
Crown length:	247 m
Radius of curvature :	0 m
	Data on the reservoir
Storage space	94.3 million m³

The Upper Nepean System is a system of four reservoirs in the far east of the Australian state of New South Wales . The Cataract River , the Cordeaux River , the Avon River and the Nepean River are dammed . The water project supplies the Macarthur and Illawarra regions southwest of Sydney , as well as downtown Sydney with drinking water.

history

The Upper Nepean System was completed in 1888. It was a remarkable feat of engineering at the time. It worked by diverting water from weirs on the four rivers to Prospect Reservoir (to the west of Parramatta ) through 40 miles of tunnels, canals and aqueducts, collectively called the Upper Canal . From 1907 to 1935 dams were built on all four rivers to increase the amount of water diverted to Sydney. The system is operated by the Sydney Catchment Authority . There is a public picnic area at each of the dams.

Together the reservoirs have a volume of 510.66 million m³ and a flow rate of a good 353,000 m³ / d.

Cataract dam

The Cataract dam is a gravity wall with an unpaved side drain on the left edge. It is 56 m high, 247 m long and the resulting Lake Cataract has a storage volume of 94.3 million m³.

The Cataract Dam was the first dam in the Upper Nepean System and the first in Australia to use prefabricated concrete blocks for the waterside. The air side consists of basalt concrete poured on site with a surface of basalt stones. An easily accessible quarry was some distance away in Sherbrooke - also called Ferndale - at the height of the "Bulli Pass". A steam train line with a track width of 610 mm and a length of 8.8 km was built to transport the rock from the Bulli Pass to the construction site. Ernest Macartney de Burgh was the chief engineer of the construction project, which began in 1904. The poet Banjo Paterson wrote the satirical ballad "The Dam that Keele Built" about the politics behind the construction of the Cataract Dam.

Cordeaux dam

The Cordeaux dam is an arch dam with an unpaved side drain on the left edge. It is 57 m high, 405 m long and the resulting Lake Cordeaux has a storage volume of 93.64 million m³. Construction began in 1918 and was completed in 1926.

The rock for the construction of the dam was brought by rail from the state quarries in Kiama to Douglas Park near the confluence of the Cataract River with the Nepean River. From there it was transported by cable car across the Nepean Gorge to a transshipment point on the east bank, where it was loaded onto a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 610 mm and brought to the construction site.

Avon Dam

The Avon Dam is an arch dam. It is 72 m high, 223 m long and the resulting Lake Avon has a storage volume of 214.36 million m³. Construction began in 1921 and was completed in 1927.

All of the construction material was delivered from the train station in Bargo on a road specially built for this purpose, whereas railways were used for all other dams. There were some easy narrow-gauge railway lines right on the construction site, but apparently no locomotives were used. The transport was carried out by means of conveyor baskets or the like, which were moved by winches, horse power or human power.

Nepean Dam

Lake Nepean
Nepean Dam

Nepean Dam

Location:	East of the Australian state of New South Wales
Tributaries:	Nepean River
Drain:	Nepean River → Hawkesbury River → Tasman Sea

New South Wales , Australia

Coordinates

34 ° 21 ′ 25 " S , 150 ° 35 ′ 37" E

Data on the structure

Construction time:

1926-1935

Height of the barrier structure :

82 m

Crown length:

216 m

Data on the reservoir

Storage space

81.36 million m³

The Nepean Dam is an arch dam. It is 82 m high, 216 m long and the resulting dammed Lake Nepean has a water volume of 81.36 million m³. Construction of the dam began in 1926 and it was finally completed in 1935.

On the Main Southern Line , branches were installed between the Bargo and Yerrinbool stations , on which the wagons with the building materials could be diverted onto the construction site railway line . This construction site railway line was made in standard gauge (1435 mm gauge). This avoided reloading the building material from large, commercial quarries and the construction site railway line became a branch line to the regular railway line. This branch line ran for 4 km through the hilly landscape. The trains were pulled by a number of different locomotives, e.g. B. also a steam tram that used to be used in Sydney. In addition, there was a network of narrow-gauge railways with a gauge of 610 mm on the construction site.

Additional work was carried out on the outlet between 1943 and 1947 to prevent the dam foundations from being washed out.

Gallery images

Lake Cataract at the highest water level. Water is drained.
Detail of the drain at the Cataract Dam
Work on draining the Cataract dam

Web links

Commons : Upper Nepean System - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

Upper Nepean Dams . Sydney Catchment Authority
W. V: Aird: The Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage of Sydney . MWS & DB. Sydney (1961).

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Jim Longworth: Construction Railways of the Upper Nepean Dams . Australian Railway Historical Society. July 1993.
^ JM Antill: Ernest Macartney de Burgh (1863-1929) . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Melbourne (1981). Volume 8. p. 266.

[Railways-1] A ^b ^c ^d Jim Longworth: Construction Railways of the Upper Nepean Dams . Australian Railway Historical Society. July 1993.

[2] JM Antill: Ernest Macartney de Burgh (1863-1929) . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Melbourne (1981). Volume 8. p. 266.