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Speaker 1: Darwen River Dam.

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Speaker 2: It is set to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary this weekend

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Speaker 2: and there is going to be an open day to

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Speaker 2: celebrate the fiftieth anniversary on Sunday, the twenty eighth of August.

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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more.

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Speaker 2: About it is Parawater Executive General Manager of Water Services,

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Speaker 2: Stephen Porter.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Stephen.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: How are you really well? Stephen?

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Speaker 2: Fifty years the Darwen River Dam the anniversary So I

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Speaker 2: did not realize it was that old.

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Speaker 3: Oh well, you know, the time goes so quickly these days,

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Speaker 3: and for a fifty year old's looking pretty sprightly.

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Speaker 2: It is, well, fifty is not old really, you know,

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Speaker 2: only when you're talking about a damn. I suppose, But yeah,

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Speaker 2: fifty years has there had to be a lot of

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Speaker 2: works that have done on and over that period of

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Speaker 2: time or how's it all tracking?

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Speaker 1: Look?

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Speaker 3: You know, like all of the our dams that are

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Speaker 3: long lived, I mean normally, you know, you expect one

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Speaker 3: hundred years for a damn plus so this is a

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Speaker 3: halfway through its life, you know, Like we do regular

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Speaker 3: maintenance on it. We make sure it has annual chicks

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Speaker 3: to keep its help in good order, and a few

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Speaker 3: years back we did raise the spill way to increase

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Speaker 3: the capacity of the dam to help secure the water

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Speaker 3: supply for Darling into the future. So it has had

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Speaker 3: some good tender loving care over the journey and we're

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Speaker 3: very confident that it'll be there for another fifty plus

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Speaker 3: years now.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, the open day is happening this weekend, so this

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Speaker 2: Sunday from nine until twelve. Now, the Darwen River Dam

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Speaker 2: it's not somewhere where people are usually able to sort

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Speaker 2: of get in there and have a walk along the spill.

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Speaker 3: Way, are they Yeah, that's correct, Katie. It is a

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Speaker 3: close catchment which we put in place for water quality reasons.

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Speaker 3: And in fact, you know, the last open day was

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Speaker 3: back in twenty sixteen, so it's been six years since

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Speaker 3: the general public have been allowed to go in and

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Speaker 3: have a look around. We do do tour groups with

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Speaker 3: school groups and other interested parties, but for the general

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Speaker 3: public this really is an opportunity need to come along

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Speaker 3: and have a look at the major water supply for

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Speaker 3: the Darwen area.

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Speaker 2: I reckon it's worth going and having a look. You know,

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Speaker 2: many years ago I worked for Power and water, and

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Speaker 2: I've been out there and it's pretty spectacular to actually

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Speaker 2: go out and have a you have a look at

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Speaker 2: just how.

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Speaker 1: Big the dam is.

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Speaker 3: And you know, there's over three hundred and three thousand

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Speaker 3: mega leaders of water and when you're standing on the

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Speaker 3: embankment looking at it seems to go on forever. So

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Speaker 3: it is in a very impressive site. It does provide

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Speaker 3: eighty five percent of the water to the Darwen region.

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Speaker 3: And not just having a look at the dam, but

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Speaker 3: there are a number of activities there as well. You know,

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Speaker 3: there'll be bus tools to the spillway, there'll be the

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Speaker 3: opportunity to have a free sausage sizzle, and there a

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Speaker 3: number of other activities to help people a bit more

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Speaker 3: interested through the day.

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Speaker 2: And Steve and I'm sure that there'll be plenty of

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Speaker 2: people coming out and asking lots of questions as well,

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Speaker 2: like has the dam ever spilled over?

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Speaker 1: If so, how many times? Stuff like that, So we'll have.

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Speaker 3: People on board to all those questions. Katie and we

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Speaker 3: love those sort of questions. We think it's fantastic that

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Speaker 3: people have an interest in you in such a significant

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Speaker 3: asset for the Darwin region. And you know, it is

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Speaker 3: a chance to get around there, listen to some of

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Speaker 3: the water stories that will be told. We'll have people

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Speaker 3: there from our demand management groups, so people get advice

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Speaker 3: on good use of water practices, irrigation and just all

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Speaker 3: the general things that people want to know about something

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Speaker 3: as significant as the damn And how come.

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Speaker 1: It decided to have an open day?

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Speaker 2: Is it just sort of a matter of you know,

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Speaker 2: of getting people out there and learning a bit more

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Speaker 2: about our water supply.

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Speaker 3: Look, we'd always love to help people understand the water

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Speaker 3: cycle and the importance of water. But it is because

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Speaker 3: of the fiftieth birthday. And when we realized, you know,

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Speaker 3: last year that it was coming up, you know, some

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Speaker 3: very passionate water people got together and said, well, we

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Speaker 3: should celebrate the life of the asset and open it

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Speaker 3: up to the general public because you can't generally get there,

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Speaker 3: and you know, people curious and interested. So you know,

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Speaker 3: like it is our invitation to the public ado and

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Speaker 3: to come down and have a look at what we've got.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good idea, I think. And like, what's how full

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Speaker 2: is the dam at the moment?

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Speaker 1: Stephen?

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Speaker 3: So it's just on eighty seven percent form, Katie, So

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Speaker 3: you know, so it does look quite impressive. The water

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Speaker 3: looks like it goes on forever. But you know, we

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Speaker 3: do want to keep reinforcing the people. It is a

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Speaker 3: precious resource. And it wasn't that long ago that you know,

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Speaker 3: we were down around the sixty or lower percent. And

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Speaker 3: from here here, you know, we do rely on you know,

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Speaker 3: the rains coming through and filling it up. So the

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Speaker 3: more we can get people to appreciate the value of

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Speaker 3: the resource, then you know, we'll all be better served.

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Speaker 2: And Stephen, someone has just messaged through and asked why

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Speaker 2: did they close the public access public access a few

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Speaker 2: years ago?

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Speaker 3: So as I said, many reservoirs and catchments are actually closed, Katie,

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Speaker 3: and that is for water quality reasons. That our prime

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Speaker 3: purpose is to provide water, but it's safe drinking order

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Speaker 3: for the general public. And unfortunately, sometimes you know, if

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Speaker 3: it's an open catchment, people do you know, spill rubbish

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Speaker 3: or perhaps attempted to go for a swim, which we

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Speaker 3: don't recommend. There are crocodiles in there. So it really

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Speaker 3: is from a water quality perspective, and we're trying to

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Speaker 3: do everything we can to make sure that the water

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Speaker 3: we provide to the darl and other regions is safe

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Speaker 3: and drinkable now, so.

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Speaker 1: Is there crocodiles in there? Very often.

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Speaker 3: We pull a rascal out every now and then.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, spy the sounds of it.

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Speaker 2: I don't think there's any water in Darwin where there's

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Speaker 2: not a crocodile there unless it's just swimming pool much

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Speaker 2: the time.

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Speaker 3: Is there bel even there you might need to be

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Speaker 3: careful as well. So yeah, like they do love to

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Speaker 3: visit some of our sites and have a bit of

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Speaker 3: a look around, but you know, and we don't encourage

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Speaker 3: the swimming and the general use of it, so you know, yeah,

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Speaker 3: careful when you get there. And just again in terms

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Speaker 3: of that safety message, we can anybody that comes out,

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Speaker 3: you know, to make sure they're wearing some smart clothing,

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Speaker 3: you know, sunscreen, you know, a nice wide brimmed hat

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Speaker 3: and a water bottle. We will have water trailers and

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Speaker 3: refall stations available to help people keep hydrated. But please,

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Speaker 3: you know, be so smart anyone that comes out on

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Speaker 3: the day.

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Speaker 2: And sounds like, don't go out thinking that you're going

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Speaker 2: for a swear meet this Stephen, You're going out to

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Speaker 2: have a look around.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, debators home this time, Casey, Yeah, there. There's

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Speaker 3: plenty of things to do there. Like I said, we've

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Speaker 3: got a refresh zone, there'll be bean bags, chairs, shade,

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Speaker 3: you know, children's entertainment, We're all going to be available there,

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Speaker 3: so there'll be lots of things for people to do,

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Speaker 3: so please come along.

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Speaker 1: Oh good stuff for Lina. I reckon.

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Speaker 2: There's going to be a lot of people listening who

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Speaker 2: probably haven't been out there, so it is a great

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Speaker 2: opportunity for them to get out there to the Darwin

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Speaker 2: River Dam celebrating the fiftieth anniversary and Power and Water

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Speaker 2: Executive General Manager of Water Services Stephen Porter, we appreciate

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Speaker 2: your time this morning.

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Speaker 3: Great thanks Katie, Thank you you too,