Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Power and Water's Steven Porter says an open day is being held at Darwin River Dam to mark its 50th anniversary

Transcript

Power and Water's Steven Porter says an open day is being held at Darwin River Dam to mark its 50th anniversary · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Darwen River Dam.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: It is set to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary this weekend
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: and there is going to be an open day to
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: celebrate the fiftieth anniversary on Sunday, the twenty eighth of August.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to tell us a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: little bit more.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: About it is Parawater Executive General Manager of Water Services,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Stephen Porter.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Stephen.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: How are you really well? Stephen?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Fifty years the Darwen River Dam the anniversary So I
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: did not realize it was that old.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Oh well, you know, the time goes so quickly these days,
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: and for a fifty year old's looking pretty sprightly.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: It is, well, fifty is not old really, you know,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: only when you're talking about a damn. I suppose, But yeah,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: fifty years has there had to be a lot of
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: works that have done on and over that period of
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: time or how's it all tracking?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Look?
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: You know, like all of the our dams that are
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: long lived, I mean normally, you know, you expect one
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: hundred years for a damn plus so this is a
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: halfway through its life, you know, Like we do regular
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: maintenance on it. We make sure it has annual chicks
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: to keep its help in good order, and a few
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: years back we did raise the spill way to increase
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: the capacity of the dam to help secure the water
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: supply for Darling into the future. So it has had
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: some good tender loving care over the journey and we're
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: very confident that it'll be there for another fifty plus
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: years now.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Obviously, the open day is happening this weekend, so this
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Sunday from nine until twelve. Now, the Darwen River Dam
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it's not somewhere where people are usually able to sort
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: of get in there and have a walk along the spill.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Way, are they Yeah, that's correct, Katie. It is a
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: close catchment which we put in place for water quality reasons.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: And in fact, you know, the last open day was
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: back in twenty sixteen, so it's been six years since
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: the general public have been allowed to go in and
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: have a look around. We do do tour groups with
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: school groups and other interested parties, but for the general
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: public this really is an opportunity need to come along
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: and have a look at the major water supply for
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: the Darwen area.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: I reckon it's worth going and having a look. You know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: many years ago I worked for Power and water, and
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I've been out there and it's pretty spectacular to actually
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: go out and have a you have a look at
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: just how.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Big the dam is.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, there's over three hundred and three thousand
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: mega leaders of water and when you're standing on the
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: embankment looking at it seems to go on forever. So
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: it is in a very impressive site. It does provide
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: eighty five percent of the water to the Darwen region.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: And not just having a look at the dam, but
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: there are a number of activities there as well. You know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: there'll be bus tools to the spillway, there'll be the
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: opportunity to have a free sausage sizzle, and there a
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: number of other activities to help people a bit more
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: interested through the day.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And Steve and I'm sure that there'll be plenty of
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: people coming out and asking lots of questions as well,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: like has the dam ever spilled over?
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: If so, how many times? Stuff like that, So we'll have.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: People on board to all those questions. Katie and we
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: love those sort of questions. We think it's fantastic that
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: people have an interest in you in such a significant
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: asset for the Darwin region. And you know, it is
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: a chance to get around there, listen to some of
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: the water stories that will be told. We'll have people
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: there from our demand management groups, so people get advice
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: on good use of water practices, irrigation and just all
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: the general things that people want to know about something
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: as significant as the damn And how come.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: It decided to have an open day?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Is it just sort of a matter of you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: of getting people out there and learning a bit more
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: about our water supply.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Look, we'd always love to help people understand the water
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: cycle and the importance of water. But it is because
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: of the fiftieth birthday. And when we realized, you know,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: last year that it was coming up, you know, some
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: very passionate water people got together and said, well, we
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: should celebrate the life of the asset and open it
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: up to the general public because you can't generally get there,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: and you know, people curious and interested. So you know,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: like it is our invitation to the public ado and
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: to come down and have a look at what we've got.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good idea, I think. And like, what's how full
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: is the dam at the moment?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Stephen?
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: So it's just on eighty seven percent form, Katie, So
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: you know, so it does look quite impressive. The water
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: looks like it goes on forever. But you know, we
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: do want to keep reinforcing the people. It is a
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: precious resource. And it wasn't that long ago that you know,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: we were down around the sixty or lower percent. And
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: from here here, you know, we do rely on you know,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the rains coming through and filling it up. So the
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: more we can get people to appreciate the value of
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: the resource, then you know, we'll all be better served.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: And Stephen, someone has just messaged through and asked why
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: did they close the public access public access a few
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: years ago?
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: So as I said, many reservoirs and catchments are actually closed, Katie,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: and that is for water quality reasons. That our prime
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: purpose is to provide water, but it's safe drinking order
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: for the general public. And unfortunately, sometimes you know, if
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: it's an open catchment, people do you know, spill rubbish
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: or perhaps attempted to go for a swim, which we
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: don't recommend. There are crocodiles in there. So it really
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: is from a water quality perspective, and we're trying to
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: do everything we can to make sure that the water
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: we provide to the darl and other regions is safe
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: and drinkable now, so.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Is there crocodiles in there? Very often.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: We pull a rascal out every now and then.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: So yeah, spy the sounds of it.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's any water in Darwin where there's
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: not a crocodile there unless it's just swimming pool much
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the time.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Is there bel even there you might need to be
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: careful as well. So yeah, like they do love to
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: visit some of our sites and have a bit of
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: a look around, but you know, and we don't encourage
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: the swimming and the general use of it, so you know, yeah,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: careful when you get there. And just again in terms
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of that safety message, we can anybody that comes out,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: you know, to make sure they're wearing some smart clothing,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: you know, sunscreen, you know, a nice wide brimmed hat
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: and a water bottle. We will have water trailers and
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: refall stations available to help people keep hydrated. But please,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: you know, be so smart anyone that comes out on
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: the day.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And sounds like, don't go out thinking that you're going
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: for a swear meet this Stephen, You're going out to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: have a look around.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, debators home this time, Casey, Yeah, there. There's
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: plenty of things to do there. Like I said, we've
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: got a refresh zone, there'll be bean bags, chairs, shade,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: you know, children's entertainment, We're all going to be available there,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: so there'll be lots of things for people to do,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: so please come along.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff for Lina. I reckon.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: There's going to be a lot of people listening who
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: probably haven't been out there, so it is a great
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: opportunity for them to get out there to the Darwin
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: River Dam celebrating the fiftieth anniversary and Power and Water
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Executive General Manager of Water Services Stephen Porter, we appreciate
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: your time this morning.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Great thanks Katie, Thank you you too,