Browhill Creek dam site

Brown Hill Creek dam plan doubt
by Nadine Bishop

PLANS for a 12m high, 100m wide dam on Brown Hill Creek might be scrapped in favour of downstream works to reduce the flood risk.
Mitcham Council has hired a consultant to examine whether flood mitigation works on the plains will make the proposed dam on the creek’s upper reaches redundant.
WorleyParsons will be paid up to $20,000 to investigate options such as diverting the creek downstream to reduce the risk to 3500 homes on the creek’s flood plain.
The dam proposal follows a failed plan in 2008 to build two 23m-high concrete retention basins on the creek. The latest development follows fears the dam would spoil an upstream stretch of the creek and undo thousands of volunteer hours spent caring for the site.
Friends of Brown Hill Creek member Marcus Beresford welcomed the council’s decision.
“Given what WorleyParsons has already done to reduce the scale of dams, from two 23m-high dams to one 12m dam, it does beg the question whether we can get rid of the dam altogether,” Mr Beresford said.
A council spokesman said it was important to make sure the dam was needed rather than leave other options “untested”.
This is the article place in the Eastern Courier. I took the time to look at the site this week and took the photo above which shows the line of the dam wall. While I will support the dam option if this is the only way to prevent flooding I also fully support exploring further options.

If you,like me, have lived in the Unley area for almost 30 years and have never been to the upper area of the Brownhill Creek reserve it's certainly worth a look at the site pictured.