The draft water release policy for Tweed Shire’s Clarrie Hall Dam is currently on exhibition for residents to comment on and Tweed Council are making it clear that the dam is not able to act as part of flood mitigation.
The dam is located on Doon Doon Creek approximately 15 km south-west of Murwillumbah, has a catchment area of 60 km² and can hold up to 16,000 megalitres of water.
Opened in 1983, Clarrie Hall Dam was designed for the purposes of water storage for water supply only and it has an uncontrolled spillway. Therefore, Council cannot regulate or change the flow of water through the spillway, change the Full Supply Level (FSL) of the spillway, or maintain a surcharge above the spillway level.
‘Due to its design and purpose, Clarrie Hall Dam cannot be operated to release water ahead of rainfall events to provide any form of storage capacity for flood mitigation purposes,’ said Council’s Manager Water and Waste Water Operations Brie Jowett.
‘We know there is some misinformation within the community about water releases for flood mitigation and during floods at Clarrie Hall Dam and we want to clear that up.
‘We’ve put the draft policy on exhibition as we want to hear from all Tweed residents – especially those in flood–prone, downstream communities including Uki, Murwillumbah, Condong, Tumbulgum and Chinderah – to make sure they have all the information they need to understand how Council’s water release operations work,’ she explained.
‘It’s important our community understands that it’s not possible to use the dam for flood mitigation. There is no capability to regulate or change the flow of water through the dam’s spillway, nor change the full supply level of the spillway.
‘We are encouraging everyone to learn more about the dam’s design and how it is operated by reading the policy and let us know how to improve the policy to make it clearer.’
You can review the draft and share your feedback by completing the online survey or attend the community information session on Wednesday 10 August at Murwillumbah Services Club from 4.30 pm. Registration is essential. For more details and to register visit yoursaytweed.com.au.
