Sustained spring rain sees South Para spillway in action

Water is now gradually flowing down the spillway at South Para Reservoir for the first time in six years, after the storage reached 100 per cent capacity last week.

Spring rainfall has delivered around 16 billion litres of water to the Barossa-based reservoir, lifting its storage level from 65 per cent at the start of September.

South Para’s upgraded spillway – completed in October 2012 at a cost of $3.7 million – self-manages releasing excess water through a central slot downstream into the South Para River.

SA Water’s Senior Manager of Wastewater Expertise and Environment James Crocker said this year is proving to be one of the wettest in the past 20 years for the state’s reservoirs.

“Since the start of winter this year, more than 145 billion litres of water has flowed into South Australia’s reservoirs, lifting them to a collective 94 per cent of their combined capacity,” James said.

“This combined total has now eclipsed our highest level during the past five years, when we reached 90 per cent capacity in 2017 following an extremely wet 2016.

“Spring rainfall isn’t letting up yet and we now have our fifth reservoir safely releasing water, with South Para’s spillway doing exactly what it was designed and built for.

“The spillway’s updated design as part of our upgrade – which elevated the dam’s safety to keep it in step with refreshed national guidelines – helps minimise any impact downstream by restricting outflow to slow the release of water, while protecting the dam’s structural integrity.

“Once water is naturally released from the reservoir, it flows into the South Para River and eventually meets the North Para River to form the Gawler River system, which is also fed by number of other creeks.

“As much as possible, we’ve also been diverting water into the Barossa Reservoir from South Para to help retain it within our drinking water supply network.

“Excitingly for visitors, there’s now 140 hectares more water to explore in a kayak, or to drop a line in, due to the reservoir’s current level when compared to a few months ago.

“While there is no public access to the spillway, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at the structure in action via our social media.”

South Para Reservoir is the second largest in South Australia and has a capacity of 44.8 billion litres.

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