Lake Chichester
| Lake Chichester | |||||||
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| Coordinates | 32 ° 14 ′ 13 ″ S , 151 ° 41 ′ 22 ″ E | ||||||
| Data on the structure | |||||||
| Construction time: | 1917-1926 | ||||||
| Height of the structure crown: | 43 m | ||||||
| Crown length: | 254 m | ||||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||||
| Reservoir length | 4.22 km | ||||||
| Reservoir width | 0.58 km | ||||||
| Storage space | 21.5 million m³ | ||||||
| Catchment area | 197 km² | ||||||
The Chichester Dam is a dam in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales . It is located about 21 km north of the town of Dungog in the southeastern foothills of the Barrington Tops National Park on the Chichester River .
The dam was built from 1917 to 1926 to supply the Hunter Valley with drinking water. Today the reservoir provides about 35% of the drinking water for the lower Hunter Valley. Its catchment area is in the Barrington Tops National Park and is 197 km². The water comes primarily from the Chichester River and its tributary, the Wangat River . The reservoir has a total volume of 21.5 million m³ and is connected to the drinking water reservoirs in Maitland , Cessnock and Newcastle by an 80 km long gravity pipeline .
The dam is 254 m long and 43 m high. The gravity wall consists of large boulders and built-in concrete blocks. 93 tie rods connect the wall to the natural rock.
history
Construction began in 1917 and was finished in 1926. In 1965 the spout was lowered by 2.75 m to increase the flood capacity. In 1985 the dam was braced with steel cables and the outlet was moved back to its original height in the middle of the dam. In 1995 the slope on the water side under the northern abutment was reduced and in 2003 a better drainage system was installed for the foundations and the left parapet was raised to prevent it from spilling over when the water level was very high.