Lake Julius was formed following the construction of Julius Dam in 1976 for irrigation and town water storage. The dam wall is located just below the junction of the
Leichhardt River and Paroo Creek some North East of
Mount Isa. With a catchment area of 4,845 square kilometres it has a full supply capacity of , a surface area of with an average depth of .
The dam is unique in
Queensland and is a concrete multiple
arch
An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it.
Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
and buttress type structure, with the
spillway discharging over the tops of the arches. The spillway crest is above bed level. The arch barrels, founded on a triangular arch base, are constructed in independent arch rings and are hinged at buttress springing lines. The spillway is a precast superstructure and the dissipation slab at ground level is post tensioned to the foundation rock.
The dam has a total storage capacity of , and has a full supply level of 223.54m AHD.
After recording its lowest level of 0% in September 2002, the dam filled to a maximum of 169.73% of capacity on January 15, 2004, after record breaking rainfall upstream at Mt Isa.
SunWater
Sunwater, the trading name of Sunwater Limited, is a statutory Queensland Government -owned corporation that supplies bulk water to over customers and water consultancy services to a range of institutional clients in the Wide Bay–Burnett and ...
is undertaking a dam spillway capacity upgrade program.
Spillway Capacity Upgrade Program
See also
* List of dams and reservoirs in Australia
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius, Lake
North West Queensland
Reservoirs in Queensland