The business of water is fascinating. For example…have you ever stopped to think how a dam’s catchment really works?
Here’s a good one – the state’s second largest dam, Fairbairn (aka Lake Maraboon) has its catchment stretch alllll the way to the Carnarvons. That means it can be raining near-300km away, sunny as sunny at the dam and the level will be rising!
It’s just one of the many incredible facts that the team from Sunwater taught Scotty and the crew when they got a behind the scenes tour of the MASSIVE Fairbairn Dam.
Here’s another one, the dam itself holds over 1.3 million megalitres of water… to put it into perspective, an Olympic sized pool is 2.5 mega litres. You do that math.
The bloke who manages this absolute MASS of water is Jason Smith. Jason is not only passionate about the dam itself, but how visitors to the site use it.
“Swimming kayaking redclaw-ing fishing, skiing, lots of things to do yes… home to some of the biggest barra… heaps of space for lots of people. BBQs shady trees lots of grassed areas for the kids to run around kick a ball have a picnic, it’s great.”
Jason and his team reminds everyone visiting the dam to do so safely and respectfully.
“Safety. Help us keep you safe, help yourself stay safe. Watch out for submerged hazards, understand your capabilities, understand your machinery if you’re putting machinery on the water.”
Do yourself a favour and check out Lake Maraboon… or indeed any other of the Sunwater sites by heading to their website.
