DUST off your kayak or boat, Chifley Dam is at full capacity and looking good for the warmer months.
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Spring is, traditionally, the time when the dam reaches its highest level, and this year is no different.
Bathurst Regional Council water and waste manager Russell Deans said the dam is monitored by council each day.
“On Sunday it started to spill over the spillway,” he said.
Chifley Dam holds 30,800 megalitres of water at capacity – almost double the 17,290ML in Orange’s Suma Park Dam.
Though Chifley Dam is a significant size, it is dwarfed by the huge Burrendong Dam on the Macquarie River south-east of Wellington, that can hold 1,188,000 megalitres.
“The unique thing is the size of the storage; we have bigger storage than in Orange,” Mr Deans said of Chifley.
“Part of the reason is how well the catchment works. It’s about 1000 square kilometres and goes up to the Great Dividing Range.
“It captures rain we don’t even see in Bathurst.”
Many years have passed since water restrictions were enforced on Bathurst residents. There were significant restrictions in the 1980s and shorter periods in the early 2000s.
Chifley Dam hit its lowest level in almost seven years in March this year when it dropped to 62.4 per cent – a low last reached in July 2007.
Mayor Gary Rush said a secure water supply encourages investment in the Bathurst region.
“At present this would be the only dam in the region that’s at 100 per cent,” he said.
Cr Rush said council’s decision in the late 1990s to upgrade the dam’s safety and increase its storage was a “very sound decision”.
The $30 million works included raising the main earth embankment by more than five metres and raising the side channel concrete spillway.
This increased the dam’s capacity from 16,000 megalitres to 30,800 megalitres.