Burrendong Dam falls below Flood Mitigation Zone for first time in 15 months
16 FEBRUARY 2023The level of Burrendong Dam on the Macquarie River has dropped below its Flood Mitigation Zone following 15 months of exceptional weather conditions and high inflows.
The storage, upstream of Dubbo on the Macquarie River, currently sits at 99%, the first time the dam has been below its Full Supply level since November 2021.
This milestone follows a two-year period of extreme wet weather in the region:
- In March 2021, the storage sat at 39%
- By September 2021, the storage reached 100%
- From November 2021 to present, the storage (1,189 gigalitres at full supply level) received over four times its capacity in inflows and remained in the Flood Mitigation Zone.
Unlike many other dams, Burrendong has a Flood Mitigation Zone, a designated airspace to capture excess water for the purposes of flood mitigation, meaning water can be held above full supply level and then released when downstream tributaries have reduced.
This allows WaterNSW to temporarily hold water back and, where possible, limit the impact on communities downstream.
WaterNSW Executive Manager of Operations, Ronan Magaharan, praised dam operators during the period.
“The news of the dam falling below full supply level follows a difficult period in the Macquarie Valley,” he said.
“WaterNSW operational staff have been centred on flood operations for many months now, with our expert planners working to manage unprecedented volumes of water.
“The design of Burrendong Dam has meant WaterNSW can hold back water in the flood mitigation zone and plan our releases in windows to minimise the impact on downstream communities.
“I’m incredibly proud of the WaterNSW staff who have worked closely with local communities over this testing period.
"With the storage moving out of the FMZ our dam operators are now focused on maximising the resource available for customers and the environment.
To help manage dam operations WaterNSW has for months worked closely with the Bureau of Meteorology, the NSW State Emergency Service and the Burrendong Flood Mitigation Zone Reference Panel, which includes landholders, councils and other agencies.
Learn more about how WaterNSW operates during flood operations.
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