Kangaroo Creek Dam Upgrade

During 2015-2019 SA Water upgraded the Kangaroo Creek Dam.
Kangaroo Creek Dam is a concrete face rockfill dam with a side channel spillway; it is located on the River Torrens (near Castambul) about 22km north east of Adelaide, South Australia, and was originally constructed between 1966-69 to provide additional storage for Adelaide’s metropolitan water supply.
The upgrade ensured that the dam complied with ANCOLD (Australian National Committee on Large Dams) standards.


Construction began in late 2015, and was completed by November 2019.
The work widened the spillway, raised the wall and strengthened the wall embankment.
The upgrades will also help manage major floods and increase the dam's ability to withstand earthquakes. However it does not increase the dam’s capacity, as the spillway height remains unchanged.

SA Water plans minor revegetation for the site in April 2020, which will include hydroseeding of the location of the construction site compound.

Contractor Bardavcol Pty Ltd
Contract Value $78,513,994
Completion Date September 2018
Project Description
Major safety upgrade to the existing concrete lined rock fill dam to meet ANCOLD requirements
Excavation of 300,000m3 of rock to widen the spillway by up to 40m
Extension of the outlet tunnel and pipe work by approximately 50m
Buttressing of the existing rock fill embankment (200,000m3)
Raising of the embankment crest including extension of the concrete face slab using slip form techniques
Significant concrete works (32,000m3) to line the spillway including temperature sensitive mass pours and ogee crest construction
Construction of post tensioned anchors to the existing ogee crest
Electrical, SCADA and security works

The final cost of the upgrade was $94 million. Source SA Water