North Pine Dam - History

History

The North Pine Dam opened on 12 August 1976 by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane City Council, Alderman Frank Sleeman. The accompanying water treatment plant is also managed by South East Queensland Water.

The dam meant that many of the surrounding grazing and dairy farms were compulsorily acquired, and the only evidence of these farms is now the names of roads leading to the lake's shoreline, such as Winn Road and Golds Scrub Lane. Golds Scrub Lane now leads only to the Samsonvale Cemetery; prior to the flooding of the dam, the site was also home to a church and a post office. To allow for the dam's flooding, 27 kilometres of road had to be relocated and rebuilt.

In May 2007, the dam, which was providing about 100 ML per day or 20% of the South East Queensland region's water supply, was taken offline as a safety precaution. This was due to a drought in which water levels had dropped to 14% capacity, the lowest since it was built. The cessation of water supply was meant to protect the dam from potential blue green algae blooms in the coming summer months. The operators continued to release between 8-10 million litres per day to service the North Pine River.

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