Drought protected | Northern Rivers Environment | Environmental News in Northern Rivers

Graham Orams | 3rd July 2009

The Daily Examiner

FOR many years the Clarence Valley community has been living on a water supply knife-edge.

If a severe drought had hit the Valley, only three weeks water would have been available.

Now even if it doesn't rain for three years, the Clarence Valley will be safe, thanks to the new Shannon Creek Dam which officially opens this month.

Yesterday, I was taken to see the water storage by the man who has overseen the dam's construction from start to finish, Ian Preston.

Mr Preston is the executive manager of North Coast Water and it isn't difficult to see the project has been his baby.

From the moment you descend down the winding road into the area, you can tell it is something special.

Planning for the project began 15 years before the first machinery moved in to start work, and the finished product is testament to the design team's skills.

Mr Preston said the major infrastructure was completed in December but a number of 'final touches' were still being applied.

He said the dam cost $180 million and took three years to build. When full, it will hold 30,000 megalitres of water.

In comparison, the Rushforth Road reservoir in South Grafton, that the Valley currently relies on in an emergency, holds 100 megalitres.

“(The dam's) origins come from the Clarence and Coffs communities looking at their long-term water needs. The finished product is a community asset which other communities are now looking at and saying 'we need one of them',” Mr Preston said.

Mr Preston said the dam had two key objectives. The first was to provide a long-term water supply solution to the Clarence and Coffs regions. The second was to protect the river systems.

He said this would be achieved by ensuring that water was drawn from the dam, instead of the Nymboida River, once river flows fell below a certain level.

Protecting river flows is not the only benefit from the construction of the dam.

Mr Preston said the dam was built on 5000 hectares of land, much of it purchased for the sole purpose of protecting the surrounding environment.

The water that flows from the Nymboida River into the dam travels through a 20-kilometre-long pipeline and is entirely gravity-fed.

An automated diversion system has been built into the pipeline to ensure part of the flow is diverted back into the Shannon Creek system to 'mimic the natural flows'.

North Coast Water has even built a public viewing area and barbecue area so the public can visit the dam.

Mr Preston said the official opening would be on Monday, July 20, and the general public was invited to attend.

People can book by calling 6645 0229.

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