Tumut Pond Dam is a major gated concrete arch dam across the upper reaches of the Tumut River in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The dam's main purpose is for the generation of hydro-power and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 and now run by Snowy Hydro. The impounded reservoir is called the Tumut Pond Reservoir, or less formally, the Tumut Pondage.

Location and features

Completed in 1959, Tumut Pond Dam is a major dam, located approximately 3 km south-east of Cabramurra. The dam was constructed by a consortium comprising Kaiser-Walsh-Perini-Raymond based on engineering plans developed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation under contract from the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority. The dam wall comprising 141000 m3 of concrete is 86 m high and 218 m long. At 100% capacity the dam wall holds back 52793 ML of water. The surface area of Tumut Pond Reservoir is 202.7 ha and the catchment area is 332 km2. The gated spillway is capable of discharging 1926 m3/s through two 14.3 m (47 ft) wide by 9.1 m (30 ft) high radial gates. The crest of the dam wall forms part of the road between Cabramurra and Khancoban. The road is closed to through traffic in winter as it is not routinely cleared of snow and ice.

Power generation

Downstream of the dam wall and located underground is Tumut 1, a conventional hydroelectric power station, that has four turbine generators, with a generating capacity of 330 MW of electricity; and a net generation of 847 GWh per annum. The power station has 262.1 m rated hydraulic head. The underground powerhouse is located 366 m below ground level.

Tumut Pond Reservoir

Tumut Pond Reservoir or Tumut Pond Pondage (sometimes also Tumut 1 Reservoir/Tumut 1 Pondage) is formed by the Tumut Pond Dam. Snowmelt and other runoff enter the reservoir from the upper Tumut River and the dam impounds the river's natural flow below the Tumut Two Dam wall. Water from the reservoir, after passing over the spillway of the Tumut Pond Dam, flows downstream, above the underground Tumut 1 Power Station, and into the impounded waters of Talbingo Reservoir, formed by the Talbingo Dam; past Tumut 3 Power Station, into Jounama Pondage, formed by Jounama Dam; and then into Blowering Reservoir, formed by Blowering Dam, passing through Blowering Power Stations. The natural flow of the Tumut River continues into the Riverina region.