Warragamba Dam

Warragamba Dam is a heritage-listed dam in the outer South Western Sydney suburb of Warragamba, Wollondilly Shire in New South Wales, Australia.

It is a concrete gravity dam, which creates Lake Burragorang, the primary reservoir for water supply for the city of Sydney. The dam wall is located approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) W of Sydney central business district, 4½ km SW of the town of Wallacia, and 1 km NW of the village of Warragamba. The dam was devised as part of a collective engineering response to Sydney's critical water shortage during World War II and was originally known as the Warragamba Emergency Scheme. Constructed between 1948 and 1960, the dam created capacity for a reservoir of 2,031 gigalitres (4.47×1011 imp gal; 5.37×1011 US gal) and is fed by a catchment area of 9,051 square kilometres (3,495 sq mi). The surface area of the lake covers 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi) of the now-flooded Burragorang Valley. It was designed and built by the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board. A small hydroelectric power station was incorporated into the design of the dam but has been disconnected from the grid since 2001. The property is owned by WaterNSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The dam was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999. Drought has severely depleted the level of the dam at times: on 8 February 2007 it recorded an all-time low of 32.5% of capacity. On 2 March 2012, it overflowed for the first time in fourteen years. It overflowed again in 2016, March 2021 and March 2022.

One of the first places in the Gundungurra traditional homelands that most appealed to the Anglo-Celtic settlers were the river flats of the Burragorang Valley (now flooded under Lake Burragorang). Even before the valley was officially surveyed in 1827-1828, many early settlers were already squatting on blocks that they planned to officially occupy following the issue of freehold title grants. From the Burragorang Valley and using Aboriginal pathways, other valleys to the west were occupied and developed by the settlers with construction of outstations and stock routes. These cattle entrepreneurs were then followed by cedar-wood extractors and miners.In 1845, Pawel Strzelecki drew attention to the Warragamba River as a water supply catchment; in 1867, supporters proposed a dam.The Gundungurra traditional owners resisted the taking of their lands, and, relying on various laws of the colony at the time, continually applied for official ownership. Although their individual claims failed, in some kind of recognition of the significance of the designated tracts of land claimed, six Aboriginal Reserves (under the control of the NSW Aborigines Protection Board) were formally declared in the Burragorang Valley. Even after these reserves were revoked, many of the traditional owners remained, quietly refusing to leave their traditional homelands.Finally pushed into the "Gully", a fringe development in West Katoomba from about 1894, the Gully community stayed together for more than 60 years until dispossessed of the Gully by the then Blue Mountains Shire Council so a group of local businessmen could develop a speedway that became known as the Catalina Race Track. The Gully people kept talking about areas of land they had walked in as children - the nearby Megalong and Kanimbla Valleys and the Burragorang Valley. They knew of the profound significance of these valleys for their parents and grandparents.Between 1867 and 1946, supporters of Strzelecki's proposal proposed various schemes before the site and design of the current dam received approval.

The dam impounds the Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, and Warragamba rivers, within the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment.The dam created capacity for a reservoir of 2,027 gigalitres (4.46×1011 imp gal; 5.35×1011 US gal) and is fed by a catchment area of 9,051 square kilometres (3,495 sq mi). The surface area of the lake covers 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi) of the now flooded Burragorang Valley.

The catchment area is 9,051 square kilometres (3,495 sq mi). The areas closest to the lake, making up around 30% of the total catchment, are restricted access special areas. Most of the rest Although the engineers did not design Warragamba Dam as a flood control measure, it can mitigate flooding by holding floodwaters back while the reservoir fills.

Warragamba Dam was a popular picnic spot for Sydneysiders, but access to the public was restricted after 1999 due to A$240 million of upgrades in that time. It reopened to the public on 8 November 2009.Access to the dam wall and terrace gardens opened from 23 December 2012 to 28 January 2013 at weekends and public holidays.

The Emergency Scheme is representative of the collective engineering response to Sydney's critical water shortage during the Second World War period. It was the first stage in the storage and extraction of water from the Warragamba River, and was preliminary to the Waragamba Dam. All of the components are excellent examples of the civil engineering skills of the times; the Balance Reservoir is particularly significant because it provides a stilling pool downstream of Warragamba Dam for the purpose of flood discharge; the group of five cottages associated with the construction of the dam are considered to be of high significance because they housed the operations staff between 1940 and 1959. These have since been incorporated into the Warragamba township, one of the largest townships in the Shire of Wollondilly.The Warragamba Emergency Scheme was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999, having satisfied the following criteria: The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. This item is assessed as historically rare statewide and as well as scientifically rare statewide.