Engineers undertake flood preparation drills at Southeast Queensland reservoir

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The engineers in control of Wivenhoe dam in southeast Queensland have been running flood preparation drills during another unpredictable summer. Dams in the area are already full but those in charge say that's exactly where they need to be.

Transcript

00:00Wivenhoe, South East Queensland's largest dam.

00:06Our primary purpose is to provide drinking water to over 3.7 million people.

00:10It's also a crucial line of defence against flooding.

00:14The actual drinking capacity is almost at full capacity now.

00:18But if you can imagine if you have many, many metres above that of storage held,

00:23that's actually your flood storage.

00:25Wivenhoe holds 1.2 million megalitres of water when apparently full.

00:31During a flood, it can add another 2 million.

00:34As it fills beyond drinking water capacity, releases are made into the Brisbane River.

00:39What we're looking at at the moment is the main spillway.

00:41It's a flip-bucket style spillway with five radial gates.

00:45The decision about when to open the gates and by how much is made here

00:50at the Flood Operations Centre, which runs around the clock.

00:53We're assuming at any time things could escalate up.

00:56So that's why we always make sure that we're ready to respond to that.

01:00Hundreds of sensors monitor real-time rainfall, run-off and water levels.

01:05And forecasts help create a sophisticated flood model.

01:08This whole thing is extremely well set up.

01:12Properly managed, the dam reduces flood risk but doesn't eliminate it.

01:16Partly because SEQ Water has no control over the lower catchment, including the Bremer River and Lockyer Creek.

01:24And because the next drought could be just around the corner, the dam can't be emptied ahead of forecast rain.

01:31We operate in accordance with our approved flood manual.

01:35After the 2011 floods, Wyvernhoe's engineers were heavily criticised about delaying releases.

01:41Several changes have since been made.

01:44To allow us to operate our gated dams in a way that is really best practice.

01:49It's done no own환 Who is responsible for searching.

01:51We have been all set up, hundreds of latezoids, including the offers.

01:55The blipets board of the tunnel is over the상 when we're from Hannah Dotson.

01:57Marine Mae St.

02:11We have no doubt that we have no evidence to run.

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