Tumut Two Dam or Tumut Two () is a major ungated concrete gravity dam across the upper reaches of the Tumut River in the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera syst ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The dam's main purpose is for the generation of hydro-power and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the

Snowy Mountains Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme or Snowy scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The Scheme consists of sixteen major dams; nine power stations; two pumping stations; and of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that ...

, a vast hydroelectricity and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by

Snowy Hydro Snowy Hydro Limited is an electricity generation and retailing company in Australia that owns, manages, and maintains the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme which consists of nine hydro-electric power stations and sixteen large dams connecte ...

. The impounded

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

is called the Tumut Two Reservoir, or less formally, the Tumut Two Pondage.

Location and features

Completed in 1961, Tumut Two Dam is a major dam, located approximately west of

Cabramurra Cabramurra was the third-highest permanently inhabited town on the Australian continent, situated at in the western Snowy Mountains (or South West Slopes) of the Great Dividing Range, in the state of New South Wales. It is lower than Dinner ...

. The dam was constructed by a consortium comprising Kaiser-Walsh-Perini-Raymond based on engineering plans developed by the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority and the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

under contract from the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority. The dam wall comprising of concrete is high and long. At 100% capacity the dam wall holds back of water. The surface area of Tumut Two Reservoir is and the catchment area is . The spillway is capable of discharging .

Power generation

Downstream of the dam wall and located underground is

Tumut 2 Tumut Hydroelectric Power Station () is a series of three of the original four, now five hydroelectric power stations on the Tumut River in New South Wales, Australia, that are part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The generating assets of the ...

, a conventional hydroelectric

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

, that has four

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

generators, with a generating capacity of of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

; and a net generation of per annum. The power station has rated

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22. It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...

. The underground powerhouse is located below ground level.

Tumut Two Reservoir

Tumut Two Reservoir or Tumut Two Pondage (sometimes also Tumut 2 Reservoir/Tumut 2 Pondage) is formed by the Tumut Two Dam. Snowmelt and other runoff enter the reservoir from the upper Tumut River and the dam impounds the river's natural flow above the Tumut Pond Dam wall and the Tumut Pond Reservoir. Water from the reservoir, after passing over the spillway of the Tumut Pond Dam, flows downstream, above the underground Tumut 1 Power Station, and into the impounded waters of Talbingo Reservoir, formed by the

Talbingo Dam Talbingo Dam is a major ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway across the Tumut River upstream of Talbingo in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The impounded reservoir is called ...

; past Tumut 3 Power Station, into Jounama Pondage, formed by Jounama Dam; and then into Blowering Reservoir, formed by

Blowering Dam The Blowering Dam is a major ungated rock fill with clay core embankment dam with concrete chute spillway impounding a reservoir under the same name. It is located on the Tumut River upstream of Tumut in the Snowy Mountains region of New ...

, passing through Blowering Power Stations. The natural flow of the Tumut River continues into the

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

region.

References

External links

* {{Energy in New South Wales , state=autocollapse Dams in New South Wales Snowy Mountains Scheme Dams completed in 1961 Gravity dams Dams in the Murray River basin Snowy Valleys Council

Location and features

Power generation

Tumut Two Reservoir

See also

References

External links