Atkinson Dam

The Atkinson Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam across the Buaraba Creek and a naturally forming lagoon, which is located near Lowood in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for irrigation of farming land in the lower Lockyer Valley. The resultant reservoir is called Lake Atkinson.

Location and features
Located in the locality of Atkinsons Dam, 22 km northeast of in the Somerset Region local government area of West Moreton region, the dam wall was constructed in 1970 over the natural Atkinsons Lagoon.

The dam wall is 9 m high and 2088 m long and holds back 30500 ML of water when at full capacity. The surface area of the reservoir is 556 ha and the catchment area is 32.72 km2. The uncontrolled spillway has a discharge capacity of 439 m3/s.

The dam is connected to Seven Mile Lagoon via a 1.2 km channel. Facilities at the dam include two boat ramps, picnic tables and two caravan parks. A maximum of 15 boats are permitted on the lake at any one time. In mid-2006 the dam was empty due to drought conditions in Australia.

Fishing
Fish stocking of silver perch, bass, southern saratoga and golden perch has resulted in an excellent fishery, although the dry periods, high evaporation rates and drawdowns for irrigation in summer, result in low water levels as well as oxygen depleted water which makes fishing much more difficult. Other fish that are present includes eel-tailed catfish and spangled perch.