Seqwater is temporarily lowering the water level at Lake Macdonald in Queensland, to enable the completion of geotechnical works as part of a project to upgrade the dam.
Water will be released through a low level outlet valve at a slow, controlled rate to protect water quality and the environment and avoid any downstream flooding.
Lowering the water level will enable further geotechnical investigations to be completed, and inform the options for upgrading the dam.
Seqwater Chief Executive Officer Peter Dennis said the water level would be lowered to about 80 per cent over about four weeks if the weather remains fine.
“Lowering the water level in dams is a common practice to manage the operation of the dam or carry out maintenance or improvements,” Mr Dennis said.
“Seqwater dam operators as well as technical and environmental staff will monitor the water quality as well as the dam environment during the lowering and will continue to do so after the lowering is complete.
“Water supply to Noosa and the surrounding region will not be impacted by the lowering of Lake Macdonald in the short or medium term.
“Our water grid allows us to efficiently move water to where it is needed and deliver a safe, reliable and cost-effective water supply to the South East Queensland region,” Mr Dennis said.
The geotechnical work will be conducted over a four week period and will help Seqwater in developing plans to upgrade the dam.
Lake Macdonald, an un-gated dam, is one of 12 key dams in South East Queensland which contribute to the region’s water grid.
It is one of six dams included in Seqwater’s Dam Improvement Program, a rolling program of maintenance and upgrades.
