Work is progressing on the $24 million Ewen Maddock Dam upgrade, providing up to 70 jobs for Sunshine Coast locals.
Natural Resources Minister Dr Anthony Lynham today inspected the upgrade, which involves raising and strengthening existing embankment walls and upgrading the recreation area.
“Queensland has an economic strategy for recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic and reliable water supply and security for all Queenslanders is central to that plan,” Dr Lynham said.
“Across the state, our publicly-owned water infrastructure has to meet modern engineering and safety standards.
“This project is part of an ongoing dam improvement program that ensures all of our dams perform safely well into the future.”
As part of the works, an innovative approach was used to lower dam levels which reduced carbon emissions and enabled the lake’s recreation areas to reopen sooner.
Seqwater Chief Executive Officer Neil Brennan said Seqwater – in conjunction with Sunshine Coast-based contractor Hall Contracting –installed six siphons to safely release water.
“For safety, the dam had to be lowered to around 60 per cent capacity to allow construction crews to raise and strengthen the embankment walls,” Mr Brennan said.
“By using gravity-based siphon technology in place of more traditional systems like diesel-fuelled pumps, we have reduced carbon emissions by about 235 tonnes.
“This approach also helped to reduce the duration of the project.”
The lake will return to full supply capacity on completion of the project.
Hall Contracting chief executive officer Cameron Hall said the company was thrilled to be delivering such a significant project on the Sunshine Coast and employing locals.
“Dam construction works are very complex and highly regulated, so it takes a skilled team to successfully deliver these types of projects,” Mr Hall said.
“We’re very lucky to have this specialised talent on the Sunshine Coast and proud to be providing much-needed jobs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Works commenced in March 2020 and are expected to end in the second half of 2021, weather permitting.
Since 2017 the Palaszczuk Government has committed $1.2 billion to water infrastructure across the state, supporting almost 2300 jobs in regional Queensland.
This includes:
• $176 million for Rookwood Weir
• $410 million for the Haughton Pipeline Duplication Project (Stage 1 & 2) in Townsville and sealing a $24 million deal for the next stage of assessment for the proposed Hells Gates Dam.
• a $16.5 million contribution to modernising an existing open channel irrigation scheme on the Atherton Tablelands.
• $13.6 million to kick start the new Emu Swamp Dam.
