Murray Two Dam

Murray Two Dam is a major ungated concrete arch dam with a controlled spillway across Khancoban Bank, a diverted flow of the Snowy and Geehi rivers in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. The impounded reservoir is called the Murray Two Pondage.

History
The structure was completed by Thiess in 1968, and is one of the sixteen major dams that comprise the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a vast hydroelectricity and irrigation complex constructed in south-east Australia between 1949 and 1974 that is now run by Snowy Hydro.

Location and features
Murray Two Dam is a major dam, located within the Snowy Valleys local government area, approximately 5 km southeast of the town of Khancoban. The dam was constructed by a consortium including Thiess and Dillingham Corporation based on engineering plans developed under contract from the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Authority.

The arch dam wall comprises 19500 m3 of concrete and is 43 m high and 131 m long. At 100% capacity the dam wall holds back 2344 ML of water. The surface area of Murray Two Pondage is 190 ha and the catchment area is 53 km2. The controlled spillway is capable of discharging 566 m3/s.

Power generation
Located immediately upstream of the Murray Two Pondage is the Murray 1 Power Station, a 950 MW conventional hydroelectric power station. Murray 1 draws the supply of its water under pressure from an 11.8 km Haupt-tunnel, with a diameter of 6.93 m, that is fully lined along its length; completed in 1966. Meanwhile, located immediately downstream is the Murray 2 Power Station, a 550 MW conventional hydroelectric power station. Water from the power plant is discharged into the reservoir, before passing over the spillway of Khancoban Dam, and down the Swampy Plain River.