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Responsible Agency: Seqwater
Proposal Stage of Development: Strategic Business Case Complete
Building Queensland Role: Assisted with Strategic Business Case
Planned Stage End Date: Not Applicable
Estimated Cost of Delivery: To be determined*
Date of Publication: December 2017

NEED

Somerset Dam, located on the Stanley River, is required to comply with the provisions of the Queensland Guidelines on Acceptable Flood Capacity for Water Dams. In order to comply with this guideline and all other dam safety standards, Somerset Dam requires an upgrade.

PROPOSAL

The proposal includes undertaking an options study to develop a short list of potential upgrade options prior to the selection of a preferred option for preliminary design. To inform the development of upgrade options, further geotechnical investigations are required for the dam foundation and its characterisation. Large-scale physical hydraulic modelling is also required to assess the hydraulic performance of both the existing dam and upgrade concept options.

Once a preferred upgrade option has been identified, preliminary design will be undertaken to develop construction cost estimates, a detailed project scope and program, and inform the business case necessary for project approval.

BENEFITS

The benefits of upgrading Somerset Dam include:

  • compliance with Queensland dam safety regulations and ANCOLD guidelines
  • reduction of societal risk of dam failure below limit of tolerability.

NEXT STEPS

Commence Preliminary Business Case

* An estimate will be provided once the proposal has been developed further.