The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is one of the most complex integrated water and hydro-electric power schemes in the world. Named a civil engineering wonder of the modern world by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1967; the scheme interlocks 7 power stations and 16 major dams through 145 kilometres of trans-mountain tunnels and 80 kilometres of aqueducts. Covering some 3200 square kilometres and having employed over a hundred thousand people from over thirty countries in its construction from 1949 to 1974, the scheme was been critial in both Australias economic and social development of the twentith century.
The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a massive water diversion and storage scheme, diverting water from the eastern slopes of the Australian Alps (part of the Great Dividing Range) in northern Victoria and southern New South Wales into a series of dams through pipes and water tunnels, for use in power generation and ultimately for irrigation in both the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys.
The largest single diverted stream, the Snowy River, was reduced to just one percent of its former flow (at its headwaters) for many years, causing environmental damage. In the early part of the 21st century, a gradual cutback in the diversions began to take effect: the target is 17% of natural flow, but so far only 2% has been achieved.
TODO:
- Details of the scheme (pictures required).
- History of proposal and construction.
- Huge number of immigrant workers, many deaths.
- Economic impact.
- Current operation (privatization, recent diversion reduction).
