Warragamba Dam, Heritage-listed concrete dam in New South Wales, Australia
Warragamba Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Warragamba River gorge, about 65 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. Its pale grey wall is divided by vertical seams into interlocking blocks roughly 17 metres on each side, later grouted into a continuous wall. A taller block-like intake structure with a small square tower rises at the centre, and angled concrete piers and outlet openings project below the crest. The dam impounds Lake Burragorang, the main reservoir for Sydney's water supply.
Planning for this dam began in the late 1930s, but construction only started after the Second World War. Flooding of the valley began in 1960 and took about six years until the reservoir reached full capacity.
The Burragorang Valley flooded by Lake Burragorang was part of Gundungurra traditional homelands. Gundungurra owners resisted the taking of their lands and applied repeatedly for official ownership; although individual claims failed, six Aboriginal Reserves were declared in the valley. Even after the reserves were revoked, many traditional owners stayed, refusing to leave. The valley's river flats had drawn Anglo-Celtic settlers even before the 1827–1828 survey.
The dam wall stands about 65 km west of Sydney's central business district, 1 km northwest of Warragamba village and 4.5 km southwest of Wallacia; Weir Road follows the old access route to the 1940 pumping station downstream. The wall is a concrete gravity structure with a low parapet along its crest and a paved road curving up the lower left slope. Allow time for the drive out and check conditions before setting off.
The dam wall was built from about 1.6 million cubic yards of concrete laid as interlocking blocks roughly 17 metres on each side, later grouted together into a continuous wall. In 2006 the Warragamba Deep Water Storage Recovery Project cut through the base of the wall to reach the lowest water in the reservoir, adding access to about eight per cent more water, roughly six months of extra supply.
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