Dam Level Crises and Water Restrictions
There have been times when drought has seriously depleted the dam. In March 1983, Lake Burragorang's level reached a low of 45.4% of capacity, only to reach maximum level in the mid 90s; as a consequence the gates were opened. Between 1998 and 2007 the catchment area experienced extremely low rainfall, and on 8 Feb 2007 it recorded an all time low of 32.5% of capacity. If Sydney's water supply were to run out, it would be a major economic as well as humanitarian disaster. The New South Wales State Government tried to reduce this risk by implementing water restrictions and constructing the Kurnell Desalination Plant. Heavy rains between June 2007 and February 2008 restored the dam level to around 67%. Despite this, Level 3 water restrictions remained in place until midnight Sunday 21 June 2009. On 29 February 2012, ABC television news reported that the dam was likely to overflow for the first time in 14 years, due to continuing heavy rain in the region. The dam did in fact begin spilling at 18:53 (AEDT) on Friday 2 March 2012 and again on Friday 20 April 2012.
Read more about this topic: Warragamba Dam
Famous quotes containing the words dam, level, crises and/or water:
“The devil take one party and his dam the other!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Those who profess contempt for men, and put them on a level with beasts, yet wish to be admired and believed by men, and contradict themselves by their own feelings—their nature, which is stronger than all, convincing them of the greatness of man more forcibly than reason convinces them of his baseness.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Part of the responsibility of being a parent is to arrange situations in children’s lives so they are able to meet crises with a reasonable chance of coping successfully with them.... Parents who believe children are unharmed by crises and will simply bounce back in time seriously misunderstand children.”
—Donald C. Medeiros (20th century)
“it
was my first doll that water went
into and water came out of much
earlier it was the diaper I wore
and the dirt thereof and my
mother hating me for it”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)