News
9 April, 2021
Gate releases commence from Somerset Dam
SEQWATER started controlled operational releases from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam on Tuesday morning (6 April, 2021) due to heavy rainfall.
Seqwater Chief Executive Officer Neil Brennan said operational releases commenced from Somerset Dam around 10am and would continue over the coming days.
“Seqwater is releasing water from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam via sluice gates to manage inflows and balance the water storage levels across both dams,” he said.
Somerset Dam is currently 78.8% capacity, while Wivenhoe Dam is 37.3%.
Over the last week, rainfall between 50 mm and 200 mm has occurred at different locations in the Somerset Dam catchment – with the overall catchment average being around 100 mm.
No downstream impact is expected from the operational releases.
The full flood storage compartments of both Wivenhoe and Somerset dams are available should further rainfall occur.
Thirteen of the region’s un-gated dams were spilling as a result of continuing rainfall in the dam catchments.
