The Dam today (Warragamba)

We only live 5 mins from Warragamda Dam, so you would think that we would have visited to see the changes ie the newly built spillway long before now.  I didn't think it would look much like it used to. Gone was all the green grass surrounding what I remember being the entry to the dam.  Replaced with a new spillway, and gone was the old footbridge - I remember crossing that when I was about 10.  A long way down and it was wobbly and rickity.  Atleast I thought it was
.. Access to the actual dam these days is not allowed,  I also remember going inside the dam wall as part of a school excusion.  Unfortunately our children won't be able to experience any of this.

Still the new spillway had to be constructed as during the 80's the dam safety experts confirmed  that Warragamba Dam’s ability to safely handle extreme floods was below modern dam safety standards, and if a flood of this nature did occur the volume and power of the floodwaters would ‘overtop’ the dam. Sections of the wall would collapse, releasing most of the stored water. This would result in the flooding of Penrith, Emu Plains, Hawkesbury area and more.

Read more about the spillway here  

So here are some pics of what the Dam looks like now. I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of people out and having picnics / bbq's.  There is plenty of space for kids to play, plenty of picnic tables and a huge park for the kids nearby.

Thankyou to Richard? who on 22 April 11, left wonderful comments on one of my previous posts about Warragamba Dam  I did enjoy hearing about your memories of those early days.  I would love to hear some more, I have no way of contacting your or finding out who you are...