Guide: That's Dam Challenging
Australia is a continent of extremes, facing the dual challenges of droughts and floods that threaten our water security and the safety of our communities and ecosystems. To help meet future water needs, safe and cost-effective water infrastructure solutions are needed. One way to do this is to repurpose and augment our dams, including raising dams.
GHD brought together dam owner-operators from across Australia to learn from and delve into discussions with international dam wall-raising experts from GHD, Black & Veatch, Damwatch and Gruner Stucky.
We created this guide to summarise the learnings and discussion from this event, which aims to share knowledge and stimulate discussion within industry of the critical considerations for raising an existing dam, often while keeping the dam operational.
GHD, in partnership with Mott MacDonald and Stantec, has been appointed by Queensland Hydro as the Dams Designer Delivery Partner for the proposed Borumba Pumped Hydro Project. This collaboration, under the Water2Wire Joint Venture, marks a significant milestone for Queensland’s renewable energy future and GHD’s commitment to advancing sustainable energy solutions.
Designed to deliver increased water security to support the urban, agricultural, and industrial needs of the Lower Fitzroy and Gladstone regions in Australia, the Rookwood Weir is the first weir within Australia and New Zealand to be awarded an IS v1.2 Design Rating by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council: the project has been recognised for its Australian-first turtle passage and innovative fish lock designs.
The Queensland government has announced plans to demolish and rebuild Paradise Dam to address significant structural issues and ensure long-term safety. GHD's Jon Williams and James Willey have been core to uncovering the risks at the heart of the dam and in designing the solution.
GHD has appointed Andrew Reynolds as Australian Dams Leader to help businesses across the dams industry provide more for communities and transform project delivery.
Based in Canberra, Andrew is a recognised leader in dam engineering with 30 years of experience in the management of major water supply infrastructure, including as former Chair of ANCOLD.
