Awoonga Dam Safety Review and Comprehensive Risk Assessment

By law, dam owners in Australia must meet increased regulatory requirements. They need to conduct regular safety reviews to make sure their assets are operating and maintained to the highest environmental and safety standards. In light of this, our team was awarded a contract to undertake a 20-year dam safety review and comprehensive risk assessment of Awoonga High Dam on behalf of the Gladstone Area Water Board (GAWB).

As the sole source of water for Gladstone’s domestic and industrial customers, the Awoonga Dam is a concrete faced rockfill dam with an ungated concrete ogee crest spillway section. The scope of our work included a background review and gap analysis, geological studies and modelling, hydrology and hydraulic assessment, stability assessment, and failure impact assessment. We also performed a review of instrumentation, comprehensive site inspection and risk assessment, as well as reporting.

Working closely with the client, our team delivered this significant study within a six month timeframe to help the GAWB meet their regulatory requirements. Following the completion of this project, we were awarded a major contract to undertake the detailed design and construction support for Awoonga Dam Spillway Upgrade.

With regulatory requirements and sound engineering practices met, the community in Gladstone can be confident they have a water system they can rely on.