Water Forever: Warragamba and Wivenhoe Dams

Abstract

Brisbane and Sydney's prewar dams and reservoirs were not sufficient to provide reticulated water to the hundreds of thousands of new households that settled in rapidly growing suburbs from the early 1950s. Following American precedent, large concrete gravity dams became easier to build. Hydrologists predicted the likely volume that catchments and valleys could both collect and hold if dammed. This article examines the decision-making trajectory of the two largest potable water urban dams in Australia, Warragamba and Wivenhoe, from conception and construction to operation. Per capita consumption of water rose sharply in the 1980s but subsequent droughts have forced both governments and the populace to change the way they use water and no longer imagine that supply is unlimited.