General News
7 August, 2024
Important monitoring safety upgrades at Chinaman Creek Dam
Around $300,000 has been spent on the technology.
Cloncurry Shire has increased the amount of flood warning information that will be collected this wet season following $300,000 in upgrades to the monitoring technology used at Chinaman Creek Dam.
The Telemetry, Monitoring and Early Warning System Project includes a new network of CCTV cameras, telemetry, and an early warning system installed to build resilience to future flood events.
The project includes strategically located cameras on and near the dam to enhance the year-round surveillance of the dam wall including comparing seepage, determining the appropriate disaster activation level, and monitoring during activations.
Telemetry from a rain gauge and level sensors on the dam wall provides trend data about dam levels, rainfall, and trigger points.
Cameras and a siren are central to the early warning system, designed to provide sufficient warning to those properties that would be impacted by a wet weather dam failure during extreme weather events.
The upgrades, which were funded by the federal government, complements the existing real-time flood warning infrastructure network assets which allow Cloncurry Shire to monitor 12 sites around the dam in real time.
Other works previously funded at the Chinaman Creek Dam include a detailed risk review, material testing, and review of the structural competency of the Chinaman Creek Dam wall.
Cloncurry Shire Council mayor Greg Campbell said the upgrades were part of a broader suite of projects to manage and mitigate risk associated with the dam.
“The upgrades to telemetry and monitoring at the dam allow for remote monitoring of the facility and generate great data sets for key parameters, both of which will improve our disaster preparedness and responsiveness,” he said.
“The early warning system will ensure we are able to provide timely advice to those downstream residents who would be impacted in the unlikely event of a dam failure.”
Queensland Minister for Disaster Recovery Nikki Boyd said: “The dam is an important asset for the Cloncurry community and making this resilience upgrade to the council’s monitoring and early warning capability is a potential lifesaver.”