Our Travels: Kununurra

Lake Kununurra was formed with the construction of the diversion dam and provides a permanent water supply to the irrigation area’s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Kununurra

Lake Argyle was built for two purposes!

1. To bring water down for the irrigation areas.

2. To stop the feast or famine cycle, of flood or dry.

Lake Argyle was formed by damming the Ord River [1973] and forms a storage catchment. It supplies a constant flow of water into the lower Ord all year round, thus removing the flood or dry of the normal seasons.

By releasing a constant flow of water down river to the diversion dam , two thing’s would be achieved,

1. Ease the risk of flooding to the flood plains which stretch all the way to Wyndham.

2. Slow the harvested water to be used for farming without the use of pumps.

By building levee bank’s the water level is raised enough to allow gravity to feed the main irrigation channel for the plantations of Indian Sandlewood now in the area, and allow the lower Ord to flow all year at a constant rate. They do this by raising and lowering the radial gates on the diversion dam.

A Hydro power plant has also been built at Lake Argyle, this supplies power to the Argyle Diamond mind and to the towns of Kununurra and Wyndham.

For more facts and figures go to the web site.

http://www.lakeargyle.com/explore-and-learn/statistics/

http://www.mtromance.com.au/visit-us/the-sandalwood-factory-kununurra/

This whole experience has been mind blowing in size and experience.