Serpentine Dam (Western Australia) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Serpentine Dam
Dam wall and offtake tower. Water level in picture is 27% of capacity.
Location	Serpentine, WA, Australia
Coordinates	32°24′15″S 116°05′58″E / 32.40417°S 116.09944°E / -32.40417; 116.09944
Opening date	1961
Dam and spillways
Height	55 m (180 ft)
Width (base)	350.5 m (1,150 ft)
Reservoir
Creates	Reservoir
Total capacity	137,700,000 m3 (4.86×109 cu ft)
Catchment area	664 km2 (256 sq mi)
Surface area	10.67 km (6.63 mi)

The Serpentine Dam is a major water supply dam for Perth, Western Australia. The dam is used to store water that is released at a controlled rate to regulate the level in the Serpentine Pipehead Dam reservoir, which in turn feeds water to the metropolitan trunk main network depending on demand. Construction of the dam was completed in 1961.

The Serpentine Dam is one of the 15 dams, some of which have since been decommissioned, that have been built in Western Australia since the 1920s, along with the Serpentine Pipehead Dam. It was built as part of the Integrated Water Supply System (IWSS), the largest scheme currently managed by the Water Corporation, which provides water for over two million people in Perth, Mandurah, and other Western Australian regions. Serpentine Dam is connected to the Serpentine Pipehead Dam, which stores water and desalinated water from the Serpentine Dam and other dams nearby for later use.

The Serpentine Dam is an important water source because the Perth metropolitan area depends on it as a strategic water source, supplying on average 39 gigalitres (1.4 billion cubic feet) per year, with an additional 2 gigalitres (71 million cubic feet) from the natural flows into the Serpentine Pipehead Dam. According to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, as of 2017 the Serpentine Dam alone has supplied about 4300 households with water annually since 2010.

Images for kids

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  South-West view across the Serpentine Dam

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  Darling Scarp

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  Extraction of bauxite