Lake Woronora
| Lake Woronora Woronora Dam |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Coordinates | 34 ° 6 ′ 40 ″ S , 150 ° 56 ′ 4 ″ E | ||||||||
| Data on the structure | |||||||||
| Construction time: | 1927-1941 | ||||||||
| Height of the barrier structure : | 66 m | ||||||||
| Crown length: | 390 m | ||||||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||||||
| Altitude (at congestion destination ) | 183 m | ||||||||
| Water surface | 4 km² | ||||||||
| Reservoir length | 8 kilometers | ||||||||
| Reservoir width | 1.1 km | ||||||||
| Storage space | 71.79 million m³ | ||||||||
| Catchment area | 75 km² | ||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
The Woronora Dam is a dam in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales . It was built on the upper reaches of the Woronora River in the south of Sydney and serves the drinking water supply of the Sutherland Shire and the northern Illawara Shire with the suburbs Helensborough, Otford, Stanwell Tops, Stanwell Park and Coalcliff .
Proposal and confirmation
The Sutherland Shire was first supplied with water in 1911 by a 6 ”line from Penshurst Reservoir , which crossed the Georges River at Tom Ugly's Point to Miranda .
In 1920 the plan for a water supply from the Woronora River for the cities of Sutherland and Cronulla was abandoned. Five years later, when the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board took over the construction of water pipes in the Sydney area, the project revived.
The plan included building a dam on the Woronora River about 15 miles upstream of its confluence with the Georges River. If necessary, this dam should be able to be enlarged.
Construction of the Woronora dam
Construction of the dam began in 1927, but - as already suspected - it had to be enlarged two years later.
The workers' accommodations were spartan but practical. They consisted of small bungalows made of fibrolite and stood on brick or concrete foundations on the sloping site. In 1930, the Great Depression caused work on the dam to be stopped. The men had to look elsewhere for work, often in other states. They often left their families at the construction site in Woronora.
The fates of some families were closely linked to the construction of dams in the Sydney area: first they lived at the construction site of the Nepean Dam , then they moved to Woronora and later to the construction site of the Warragambe Dam . Other workers on the Woronora Dam project came from the coal mining industry in nearby Helensburgh .
In late 1931, money from the Unemployment Relief Account was released for the construction of a weir to supply water to the Sutherland and Cronulla area, and work on the dam itself continued four years later.
The Woronora dam was completed in 1941 and finally cost around AU $ 13 million. Six of the workers' houses were kept as apartments for the operating staff, the rest of the Woronora settlement was turned into a picnic and recreation area.
Features of the Woronora dam
The Woronora dam has the appearance of a vaulted wall, but is designed as a gravity wall, which receives its stability through its own weight. The lower part consists of a Cyclops masonry - massive sandstone blocks that were extracted in local quarries. The main wall is made of basalt and pebble concrete and there are two inspection passages inside.
The dam has two separate meandering overflows that discharge excess water into the river below the dam through a bed fixed with concrete.
In 1988 the Woronora dam was expanded to include wall and foundation drainage for AU $ 2.9 million in order to meet international safety regulations for dams again.
River water from Lake Woronora is pumped into the nearby drinking water filter system. This facility is one of nine in the Sydney area operated either by Sydney Water or privately on behalf of Sydney Water . The reservoir and filter system supply the areas south of the Georges River, such as Sutherland, Helensburgh, Stanwell Park, Lucas Heights and Bundeena, with drinking water.
Trivia
The Australian Department of Defense's Maritime Operations Division uses Lake Woronora to test their sonar equipment . The experimental station is located on a pontoon in the middle of the reservoir.
At the construction site of the Woronora Dam, part of the comedy drama Dad Rudd MP is playing . In this film you can see many of the construction sites and several workers and their families were used as extras.
sightseeing
The dam is open to the public and has a footpath on the dam crest, a picnic area and a car park. The Woronora Dam Road leads 7 km from the Princes Highway to the dam.
Web links and sources
- Woronora Dam . Sydney Catchment Authority
- WV Aird: The Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage of Sydney . MWS & DB. Sydney (1961)
- Lake Woronora - NSW . ExplorOz.com
- Map of Lake Woronora, NSW . Bonzle.com
- Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing Pty. Ltd. Archerfield QLD (2007). ISBN 978174193232-4 . P. 25