- a physical collapse of part or all of the dam
- an uncontrolled release of any of its contents.
A failure impact assessment, carried out by a registered professional engineer, evaluates the number of people whose safety would be at risk if there was a dam failure.
There are four referable dams in our region.
Tinaroo Falls Dam
Tinaroo Falls Dam is 14km to the north-east of Atherton on the Barron River. It is a mass-concrete gravity dam that supplies irrigation water to Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area. Lake Tinaroo has a catchment of 550km2 that is bounded by the Mulgrave River catchment to the east, Johnstone and Herbert Rivers catchments to the south, and Mitchell River catchment to the west. The major tributaries are the Barron River and Mazlin Creek. The storage capacity at full supply level (FSL) is 438,900ML. SunWater is the owner of the Tinaroo Falls Dam.
Playing it safe on Lake Tinaroo.
Crooks & Wyndham Dams
Crooks and Wyndham dams are approximately 10km north of Mount Garnet. They are homogeneous earth-fill embankment dams built in the mid to late 1960s for mining, which has now ceased. The dams are currently only used for stock watering. Wyndham Dam is about 2km upstream of Crooks Dam. In extreme rainfall up to 72 properties in Mount Garnet may be affected by flooding. Department of Resources (DoR) is the owner of the Crooks and Wyndham dams.
Wild River Dam
Wild River Dam is at the headwaters of the Wild River, approximately 5km north-east of Herberton. Of the two dams — Wild River Dam and the new Wild River Dam (1994) — only the new dam is classified as referable. The dams provide water for the township of Herberton. The Failure Impact Assessment conducted in 2013 identifies 26 people at risk in a sunny day failure scenario, and 81 people at risk in a probable maximum flood scenario. Residents need to understand their responsibilities and manage their safety in accordance with the emergency action plan. TRC is the owner of Wild River Dam.
Koombooloomba Dam
Koombooloomba Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Tully River, approximately 35km south-south-east of Ravenshoe. Koombooloomba Dam was built for hydroelectric power generation for the Kareeya Power Station. There are no residential properties at risk in the TRC area. However, recreational users of the dam and river may be at risk in the unlikely event of a dam failure. Restrictions apply to watercraft on the lake above 90% and below 25% dam level for safety and environmental reasons. CleanCo is the owner of Koombooloomba Dam and provides up-to-date information.
