Waranga Basin

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Waranga Basin ( 36°33′, 145°06′E) is a reservoir forming part of the Goulburn River irrigation system in Victoria. It is located in Campaspe Shire near the City of Greater Shepparton and is located near the townships of Tatura, Rushworth and Murchison. It covers an area at full storage of 58.5 square kilometres at full capacity.

The area now covered by the Waranga Basin includes a swamp that was known as Warranga (the aboriginal name) or Gunn's after one of the early pastoralists who established his squatting run, also called Waranga, in the area surrounding the swamp.

[edit] Construction

Construction of the earth dam began in 1905 and was completed in 1915 using picks, shovels and horse-drawn scoops. The site of the basin was a former swamp in the then Waranga Shire. It was commissioned by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission to irrigate the Western Goulburn Valley. At the time of construction, the Waranga Basin embankment was described as the larger project of its sort in the world with an embankment height of 8.8 metres and length of 7 kilometres.

Between 1915 and 1926, the embankment was raised in stages and a core wall was inserted. By 1921, the embankment was raised to 12.2 metres allowing the storage capacity to be increased to 411,000 megalitres, its current capacity. The major road between Tatura and Rushworth crosses the outlet.

[edit] Distribution of the water

Waranga Basin stores water flowing downstream from Lake Eildon as well as having a catchment area of its own. Waranga Basin supplies water to the Central Goulburn Irrigation Area and Rochester Irrigation Area. However, the Waranga Western Channel takes some of the water 180 kilometres to Pyramid Hill and Boort. Goulburn-Murray Water is responsible for regulating the flow of water from the basin.

Normally, only about three-quarters of the 411,000 Ml can be used in irrigation. However, in 2002-03, an additional 90,000 Ml was supplied through pumping. This was to assist farmers in the Goulburn Irrigation System experiencing severe drought.