Seqwater is celebrating 50 years since the completion of Hinze Dam, the main drinking water supply for the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
Built across the Nerang River in 1976, the dam has undergone two major upgrades as the region’s population and water requirements have increased. It was first raised in 1989 before a larger upgrade was completed in 2011.
The 2011 project raised the dam wall by 15m and doubled its storage capacity. Hinze Dam can now hold 310,730ML at full supply, while its crest stands 108.5m above sea level.
The ungated dam is designed so that water passes over the spillway when storage reaches 100% capacity. Its longest recorded spill occurred in 2022, when the dam spilled for 224 days.
Seqwater Manager Operations Southern Region Brendan Coady said the dam has played an important role in supporting the development of the Gold Coast.
“Most people don’t think about where their water comes from when they turn on the tap, but for 50 years, Hinze Dam has been working behind the scenes to provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water that Gold Coasters depend on every day,” Coady said.
The 2011 upgrade also included construction of the Hinze Fishway, one of Australia’s first trap-and-haul fish passage systems.
Fish migrating upstream are directed into traps downstream of the dam, where native species are separated from pest fish. Native fish are then transported and released into the reservoir upstream. Seqwater said more than 500,000 native fish have been transferred through the programme.
Coady said the anniversary also recognised the engineers, operators and other Seqwater staff responsible for the dam’s operation and maintenance.
Hinze Dam is also used as a recreation area, with lakeside parks, walking and cycling trails and a mountain bike precinct. Seqwater said the site attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.
The dam is named after Carl and Johanna Hinze, German immigrants who settled in the Nerang Valley during the 1880s. The land on which their family farm was located was sold in 1950 ahead of the later development of the reservoir.
