GHD and Stantec partner to raise Sydney's Warragamba Dam

Engineering firms GHD and Stantec have been awarded a $14.5 million concept design contract by WaterNSW for the proposed raising of Warragamba Dam, which stores approximately 80% of Sydney’s drinking water supply.

The Warragamba Dam Raising Concept Design will look at increasing the height of the existing dam, allowing it to be used for flood mitigation purposes that will benefit the downstream community. The raised dam would temporarily hold back and then control the release of floodwater coming from the Warragamba catchment in large flood events.

It is one of several measures being implemented to reduce flood risk in the Hawkesbury–Nepean Valley, which has the highest flood exposure in NSW, having been impacted by 20 moderate to major significant floods since the dam’s construction in 1960. The dam is currently not designed or approved for flood mitigation.

The services provided by the Stantec-GHD partnership will include developing a cost-effective and safe design for raising Warragamba Dam, while addressing and mitigating any project impacts. The Stantec and GHD team combines relevant water infrastructure and engineering experience to create innovative designs with proven technologies.

“We are proud to be involved in the upgrade of one of Australia’s iconic dams for the benefit of downstream communities,” said Steve Fox, project director and past chairman of the Australian National Committee on Large Dams. “To design the significant modifications needed for the new flood mitigation function, our team brings design and construction experience from major dam projects in Australia and internationally as well as a track record of successfully delivering a variety of projects for WaterNSW.”

“We are proud to work with WaterNSW on this exciting project and have assembled a technical team who bring experience from dam raise projects completed around the world,” added Ashok Sukumaran, Stantec’s general manager for water in Australia. “This mix of local and international expertise will deliver a complex design that meets safety standards and optimises the dam configuration for the purposes of flood mitigation.”

Design services for the Warragamba Dam Raising Concept are expected to be completed by early 2019. For more information about the concept design, visit: http://waternsw.com.au/wdr.