Wivenhoe Dam Essay

554 Words2 Pages

The Wivenhoe dam report
Wivenhoe dam was built on the Brisbane river in 1984. The dam was built so it can catch excess water from the lakes,river and stream etc. It is built with concrete across a river valley to block the river flow. The dam supply's a great water supply for south-east Queensland.

Purpose and design of Wivenhoe dam

The purpose of Wivenhoe dam was to be over-topped by runoff when that runoff water reaches its flood capacity of the dam. Without the dam,excess water will destroy millions of lives and houses will be crushed by heavy waves. The Dam is an earth and rock fill embankment. It is 59 metres in height. with a concrete spillway section on which steel gates are installed. The crest of the embankment is 2.3 kilometres long.

Flood mitigation and control

Wivenhoe's full capacity of the dam is 255 per cent,with 100 percent referring to regions water supply. It's drinking water storage is 1,165,238ML. When it rains …show more content…

The people have great respect for Wivenhoe dam because they don't over use it and this makes water last for a long time. The Jinibara people are traditionally associated with Brisbane valley. Wivenhoe dam lies within the traditional tribal boundaries of the Jinibara people. The Jinibara people along with other tribal groups, held to the triennial feast ceremony in bunya.

Water quality in Wivenhoe dam

80 per cent of the Wivenhoe river has been affected by catchment disturbance from human activities. The dam has a total storage capacity of 3.132 million mega-litres. At full supply level it will hold 1.165 million mega-litres, or about 2000 times the daily water consumption of Brisbane. When It floods Wivenhoe Dam is built to hold back a further 1.967 million mega litres as well as its normal storage capacity of 1.165 million mega

Show More
Related

  • The Dams of the Letchworth State Park Area: A Case Study

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Elitsac Manufacturing Company Dam affects 14.08 miles of Wolf Creek (Fish, n.d.). The original purpose of this dam is not documented within the state’s dam inventory, and it is also no longer in service (Dam, n.d.). Another dam on Wolf Creek is Hopkins Mill Dam, which also is out of service. The Hopkins Mill Dam was originally built to generate hydroelectric power and affects 46.58 miles of river (Fish, n.d.).

    Read More

  • Water in the San Joaquin Valley

    2901 Words  | 6 Pages

    Furthermore, even though the Friend dam is the first primary purpose of it; it also follows a secondary purpose also. And that would be the Friend Power Authority which has 4 power plants. And within the plants it has turbines in it. What this turbine does it is that it generates water into the channel or tubes, and then it let it out into the four outlets which flows out into its benefits locations.

    Read More

  • Construction and History of the Marshall Ford Dam

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    In December 1936 the United States Department of the Interior authorized the Lower Colorado River Authority to construct a low dam at the site of an old crossing on the river known as Marshall Ford. Marshall Ford Dam was completed in 1941 through the collaboration of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) of Texas. The original purpose of the dam was to prevent floods from devastating Austin, TX. The capital city had substandard heavy damage from previous floods since its establishment in 1846. Soon bureaucrats came together to create the Colorado River Project, wanting to create a series of dams along the Colorado River to create hydroelectric power and serve to control floods and droughts. With Buchanan dam well under way with a total of six planned Marshall Ford was the only dam designed primarily for flood control and the only dam in which USBR oversaw construction. With money scarce there was debate over the final height dam and it reservoir capacity. This issue resolves itself with the flood of 1938. Once completed Marshall Ford Dam would flood 65 miles of the Colorado to form Lake Travis, creating the largest of the seven reservoirs known as the Highland Lakes.

    Read More

  • It's Time to Drain Lake Powell

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.

    Read More

  • Colorado River Hydrosphere

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    20 dams have been built, many of them by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, along the River and the tributaries. The Hoover Dam, which holds back at the Black Canyon to form the reservoir Lake Mead, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. The Glen Canyon D... ... middle of paper ... ... nts for profit along the river's course can hardly complain when a river flows where it's supposed to go.

    Read More

  • Myall Creek Massacre Essay

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1770, Captain James Cook discovered, and claimed Australia to be controlled by the control King George III of England. However by 1788, this new territory was colonized by what is known as the First Fleet, which consisted of eleven ships, and approximately 1,350 people. These colonists landed in Camp Cove, where they encountered the Cadigal natives. This was the first colony Britain set up in Australia. Soon after, the Second Fleet arrived with the necessary food and other supplies needed to survive. The majority of the Second Fleet was made up of British convicts, who among other crew, died on the ship traveling to Australia. The remaining people were able to set up a government, which was controlled completely by the British crown. The

    Read More

  • Grand Coulee Dam

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today it is still the largest concrete dam in North America, as well as being the largest concrete structure in the United States with 11,975,521 cubic yards of concrete. The Dam is built on a massive granite foundation and stands at 550 ft tall which is about twice as tall as the statue of liberty, The reservoir has a capacity of 421 billion cubic feet of water, the dam releases about 110,000 cubic feet

    Read More

  • The Debate Over the Glen Canyon Dam

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Over the years Glen Canyon Dam has been the spark for hundreds of debates, rallies, and protests. These debates have been going on for almost forty years now. The fact is that the dam created a huge lake when it was built, this is what bothers environmentalists. This lake is called Lake Powell and thousands of people depend on its tourists for income. The lake also filled up a canyon called Glen Canyon, some people say it was the most beautiful place on earth. The anti-dam side of the debate has its basis in the fact that Lake Powell is currently covering Glen Canyon. It was very remote so few people got to witness its splendor. This is probably the reason the dam was built in the first place, ignorance.

    Read More

  • The Construction of Wivenhoe Dam

    3513 Words  | 8 Pages

    Based on the events that lead to the devastating floods in Queensland and the eventual case that was brought against the engineers of the dam, there have been views from both sides of the divide as to whether or not the actions taken by the engineers were actually ethical or otherwise. We have explored this avenue and have found that both sides of the divide have good reasons to justify their actions. Firstly, we shall explore the avenue that the engineers decisions were appropriate and ethical. It can be said that the engineers did employ act utilitarianism in their decisions and actions, hence causing these decisions to be ethically correct. Act utilitarianism is essentially doing the right thing, which would benefit the majority of people, based on the situation that is currently taking place. One of the reasons that explains why the actions taken could be considered as ethically fine, was that if the dam was not opened, there would have been no other way to solve the increasing water levels in the dam. If no action was taken, there could have been seriously devastating effects, like the dam wall eroding due to water spilling over the dam wall, thus weakening the structure, or a loss of water flow control. Professor Hubert Chanson, a professor in hydraulic engineering in the University of Queensland, mentioned that the Wivenhoe Dam was actually designed as an embankment dam, hence it should not be overtopped, that is water should not be allowed to flow over the limits of the dam (Andersen 2011). Despite there being a secondary spillway, however it is recommended that spillway is not put to use, as the use of that spillway would mean that there would be a surge of water leaving the dam, and a loss of control of the water flow, w...

    Read More

  • The Effects Of The Buffalo Creek Flood, By Kai T. Erikson

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kai T. Erikson studied the effects of the Buffalo Creek flood and interviewed the survivors left in the community. Erikson documented his research and his analysis in his ethnography Everything in its Path. The flood was unique in the way that it affected the community so drastically and the calamity that it caused in its wake. Buffalo Creek is a small mining community in rural West Virginia. The community has deep roots in the land and has always trusted the land to provide for them as well as trusting the company to treat them fairly. The community is made up of families that have been there for several generations and treats everyone in the community as a family member. Individuals in Buffalo Creek pride themselves on their hard work and

    Read More

  • The Hoover Dam

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    The use of turbines from dams to provide power was a brilliant idea until water levels started running lower than normal. The water waste from humanity is directly contributing to portions of it, aside from drought conditions affected by pollution, widespread fires battled, and more adds to the depletion thereof. When humanity is relying on power provided from dams to handle the demand, they are essentially relying on the assumption that water levels will always be there to provide it. The Hoover Dam provides power to the southwestern portion of the USA that has a large number of people.

    Read More

  • Key Points Of The Great Depression

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    What: it gave jobs to unemployed workers. 726 ft high and 1,244 feet long. World's tallest dam, and second largest dam. Provided electricity and flood control, and regular water supply.

    Read More

  • Crow Lake Analysis Essay

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    What episode or even seems to be the one that precipitates the action? (In other words, what is the trigger point?) What was the state of affairs before this?

    Read More

  • Alternatives to Building More Dams

    2311 Words  | 5 Pages

    IYER, R.I. (19X9) "Large Dams: The Right Perspective.' Economic and Political Weekly, 14, 107- 116.

    Read More

  • Dams

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Diversion dams are mainly built to lessen the effects of floods and to trap sediment.3 Overflow dams are designed to carry water which flow over thier crests, because of this they must be made of materials which do not erode. Non- overflow dams are built not to be overtopped, and they may include earth or rock in their body. Often, two types of these dams are combined to form a composite structure consisting of for example an overflow concrete gravity dam, the water that overflows into dikes of earthfill construction.4 A dam's primary function is to trap water for irrigation. Dams help to decrease the severity of droughts, increase agricultural production, and create new lands for agricultural use.

    Read More

More about Wivenhoe Dam Essay

Open Document