Leslie Harrison Dam should not be confused with Leslie Dam.
| Leslie Harrison Dam | |
| Location Map: | Queensland |
| Location Map Caption: | Location of the Leslie Harrison Dam in Queensland |
| Coordinates: | -27.5281°N 153.1803°W |
| Country: | Australia |
| Location: | South East Queensland |
| Purpose: | Potable water supply |
| Status: | O |
| Operator: | SEQ Water |
| Dam Type: | E |
| Dam Height: | 25m (82feet) |
| Dam Length: | 525m (1,722feet) |
| Dam Volume: | 315e3m3 |
| Dam Crosses: | Tingalpa Creek |
| Spillway Type: | Vertical lift gates[1] |
| Spillway Capacity: | 1450m3/s |
| Res Name: | Tingalpa Reservoir |
| Res Capacity Total: | 13206ML[2] |
| Res Catchment: | 87km2 |
| Res Surface: | 470ha |
The Leslie Harrison Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam across the Tingalpa Creek that is located in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for potable water supply of the Redland City in Brisbane.[3] The impounded reservoir is called Tingalpa Reservoir. The dam was named after Robert Leslie Harrison, a Queensland parliamentarian who died in April 1966.
The dam is located between the suburbs of Capalaba, Chandler and Burbank, approximately southeast of Brisbane. The primary inflow of the reservoir is the Tingalpa Creek, not far above its mouth at Waterloo Bay.[4] The dam is one of a number of dams connected to the South East Queensland Water Grid, and the dam provides approximately 20% of the water supply for Redland City.Completed in 1968, the earthfill dam structure is high and long. The 315e3m3 dam wall holds back the 13206ML reservoir when at full capacity. From a catchment area of that includes much of the northern slopes of the Venman Bushland National Park, the dam creates Tingalpa Reservoir, with a surface area of . Controlled gates were added to the spillway in 1984 to increase water supply to the region, and removed in 2014 to improve dam safety.[5] The spillway has a discharge capacity of .[3] Initially managed by the Redland City Council, management of the dam was transferred to Seqwater in July 2008 as part of a water security project in the South East Queensland region, known as the South East Queensland Water Grid.[6] In 1984, the dam wall was raised and gates were installed,[1] and in 2014, work began on improving the safety of the dam after Seqwater completed a major investigation of its operating dams,[7] which includes draining the dam to approximately 50% capacity.[8]
In 2012–13, an independent review of Seqwater's 26 referable dams found improvements were needed at a number of dams, including Leslie Harrison, to meet the revised Queensland Dam Safety Guidelines.
The detailed design for the upgrade of Leslie Harrison Dam has been completed. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2018 and will take around 12 months to complete, subject to weather. Features of the upgrade design include:
There are no plans to introduce recreation at Leslie Harrison Dam. In 2014, Seqwater engaged experts to conduct a water quality study and develop a screening tool to improve understanding of the impact recreation has on water quality in drinking water lakes. The landmark study was one of the most complex and comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. In 2016, a water quality assessment was conducted at Leslie Harrison Dam using this screening tool. The assessment found, given the dam's role as a drinking water source for the Redlands, recreation cannot be considered because of unacceptable risks to water quality.[9]