Water Storages

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The largest dam on the River Murray is the Hume Weir at Albury, (completed in 1936 and later enlarged in 1960-61). The Hume Weir, with a capacity of 3 038 Gigalitres, was built to manage water for irrigation in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The Hume Reservoir covers a total of 1 538 000 hectares, the Victorian section covering one million hectares. This comprises the Mitta Mitta River catchment (DWR, 1989).

The Snowy Mountains Scheme (1949-72), in the Great Dividing Range to the north of the region, was designed to divert water to the Murray for electricity generation and to provide additional irrigation water. The scheme provides an important dry season input to the Hume Weir and, during drought years, can be the entire inflow from the Hume catchment.

The Dartmouth Dam, upstream from the Hume Weir, is located on the Mitta Mitta River. The Dartmouth Dam is the largest storage in the region with a capacity of 3 906 Gigalitres, about ten times the mean annual flow of the Mitta Mitta River (DWR, 1989). It’s prime purpose is to act as a reserve for the Hume Weir in dry years. With the Hume Reservoir, it was constructed and opened under the River Murray Waters Agreement (DWR, 1989).

Lake Dartmouth

The other major reservoir which supplies the North East is Lake Eildon, on the Goulburn and Delatite Rivers. Lake Eildon has a storage capacity of 3 390 Gigalitres. Minor storages in the North East region include Rocky Valley and Pretty Valley Dams (in the Kiewa River Basin), Lake Buffalo and Lake William Hovel (Ovens River Basin).

(North East Plantations Inc. Website)

The Goulburn-Murray Water website provides information on some major water storages in the Murray System (external link) - including Dartmouth Dam, Hume Dam, Lake Buffalo and Lake William Hovell. These can be found in the 'Storages' section of the Goulburn-Murray Water website.

Major Surface Water Storages used by the North East region:

River Basin	Storage	Capacity (ML)	Primary Purpose
Upper Murray	Lake Hume Lake Dartmouth	3 038 000 3 906 000	Hydro electricity Irrigation
Kiewa	Rocky Valley, Pretty Valley	28 400	Hydro electricity
Ovens	Lake Buffalo Lake William Hovel	24 000 13 500	Irrigation, urban
Broken	Lake Nillahcootie	40 000	Urban
Goulburn	Lake Eildon	3 390 000	Irrigation, flood mitigation

Source: DWR (1989)

Reference

Department of Water Resources (1989). A Water Resource Handbook. Melbourne.

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