LOCATED
15km south-west of Townsville, the Ross River Dam, aka
Lake Ross, is the major source of water supply for the
Townsville and Thuringowa cities. The dam was constructed
at the junction of the Ross River and Five Head Creek.
It was built to fulfil the two primary purposes of flood
mitigation and water storage.
The Ross River Dam has a capacity of 214,000 megalitres
covering approx 8000 hectares and has an earth rock embankment
7.5km in length with a concrete spillway. The maximum
height of the embankment is 27 metres. The catchment area
is 75 000 hectares.
Water
from the Ross River Dam Pump Station supplies up to 232
megalitres to the Douglas Water Treatment Plant where
the water undergoes aeration, sedimentation, rapid sand
filtration and chlorination treatment processes before
it is pumped to the Douglas Reservoir System where the
water is then distributed to Townsville and Thuringowa.
Currently,
the Ross River Dam remains closed to everyone except the
local water skiing club, a situation that sorely needs
to be rectified if the twin cities of Townsville and Thuringowa
are to draw the major tourism revenue that other coastal
regions enjoy to the north and south.
While the weirs downstream (Black, Gleesons & Aplins
Weirs) are well stocked by the pro-active local Fish Stocking
Group, these waters are never going to be a major barramundi
fishing drawcard to rival Tinaroo, Peter Faust or Awoonga
Dams. A relaxing of restricted reacreational access to
Lake Ross could turn this situation around in a few short
years. Here's hoping......................
Local
Fish Restocking Group:
Twin Cities Fish Stocking Association Inc.
PO Box 692, Thuringowa Central Q 4817
View
over Lake Ross
The
Spillway
The
weirs on the Ross River
Ross
River Dam Map
Archerfish
are a common sight in the Ross River
A
healthy number of juvenile barra = big barra for
the future!!
Click
on any of the images above for a larger version
