Facilities
The dam wall is constructed of rock covered with clay and other earth, with a concrete spillway. Designed to carry vehicular traffic, the dam wall is 51 metres high and 1,616 metres long, and at 100% capacity can hold 3,036,500 megalitres of water. Water is retained nearly 40 kilometres up both river valleys. Lake Hume holds approximately 5 times the volume of Sydney Harbour.
The Hume Power Station is a 58-megawatt hydro-electric power station installed in the dam wall, and is primarily used for peak-load generation. In October 2012, a high voltage transformer at the power station went up in flames, requiring more then fifty fire fighters who worked into the long hours of the night to put out the blaze.
The lake is stocked with fish. Most of these are introduced species - carp, redfin and trout though native species such as Golden Perch and Murray Cod can also be found. The fishing varies from year to year. It is also popular for water skiing, and several holiday resorts catering for fishing and skiers are dotted around the upper reaches of the lake.
Read more about this topic: Lake Hume
Famous quotes containing the word facilities:
“Marriage is good enough for the lower classes: they have facilities for desertion that are denied to us.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I have always found that when men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on “the intentions of the Creator.” But their platitudes have ceased to have any influence with those women who believe they have the same facilities for communication with the Divine mind as men have.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)