Opuha Dam

Opuha Dam
Opuha Dam
Country	New Zealand
Location	South Canterbury
Purpose	Irrigation
Opening date	7 November 1998
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Earth
Reservoir
Creates	Lake Ophua
Turbines	1
	Dam collapsed during construction

The Opuha Dam is located on the Opuha River, a tributary of the Ōpihi River in South Canterbury, New Zealand. The dam is used for water storage for farming irrigation and provides 7.7 MW of electricity to New Zealand's national grid. The site has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding colonies of the endangered black-billed gull.^[1]

History

The dam failed during construction on 6 February 1997 due to heavy rain.^[2] It was completed in 1998, creating Lake Opuha.

In 2003 in order to counteract oxygen depletion in the lake an aeration system was installed.^[3]

^ "Opuha Dam". BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ Lees, P. & Thomson, D. (2003) 'Emergency management, Opuha Dam collapse, Waitangi Day 1997', NZ Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD), 2003 Symposium "Dams – Consents and Current Practice”, Papers. Part 1, pages 84–89. The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, PO Box 12-241, Wellington, New Zealand, 2003.
^ J Brown. (2003) 'Air pump urged to help dying lakes', nzherald.co.nz

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