Borumba Dam

The Borumba Dam is a rock-fill embankment dam with an un-gated spillway located across the Yabba Creek, a tributary of the Mary River, in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. The main purposes of the dam are for irrigation and potable water supply. The resultant impounded reservoir is called Lake Borumba.

Location and features
Constructed in 1964, Borumba Dam is a popular destination for recreational fishers. The dam wall is located about 11 km south west of Imbil.

The dam wall is 43 m high and 343 m long and holds back 45952 ML of water when at full capacity. The surface area of the reservoir is 480 ha and the catchment area is 465 km2. The uncontrolled un-gated spillway has a discharge capacity of 3140 m3/s. The dam is managed by Seqwater. The dam wall was raised by 2.5 m and completed in 1997. In 1980 Ern Grant B.Sc. M.Sc. of Ern Grants Guide to Fishes fame was instrumental in setting up a Freshwater Fish Hatchery at Borumba. The Hatchery is no longer in operation. During 2008 and 2009 the dam wall was raised by another 1.6 m. The second upgrade was intended to allow better management of extreme rainfall events.

According to a local councillor the spillway developed a crack after an earthquake on 1 December 1991.

In August 2021 the Queensland Government announced $22m in funding for analysis of a proposed pumped hydro-electric project, utilising a new dam built above Borumba Dam. It could store 2 GigaWatt of power running 24 hours, and may cost $14 billion.

Recreation
A range of recreation activities are permitted at Borumba Dam including boating (powered and non-powered), canoeing and kayaking, water skiing and jet skiing, fishing, camping, and walking. Picnic and  barbeque facilities are available.

Naturally occurring blue-green algae blooms sometimes mean Seqwater closes access to the dam's water for public safety purposes.