Blue Mountains dams
The Blue Mountains System comprises three small catchment areas feeding six dams, which provide water for about 41,000 people living in the Blue Mountains region. The SCA also sources water for the Blue Mountains from the Fish River Scheme, which originates in Oberon.
Supplying water to the Blue Mountains
When Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth reached present-day Hazelbrook on 20 May 1813, they achieved the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains. The following year, Govenor Macquarie commissioned a cart road to the west and soon staging posts were built where permanent water was found.
The re-routing of the road and the introduction of the rail link to Bathurst marked the end of the camps. Between 1867 and 1876 the railway was extended from Penrith to Bathurst. However, inadequate water supplies for the steam locomotives led to the damming of Bulls Creek near Woodford in 1884.
The construction of the dams that today serve the Blue Mountains region spanned many years - from the construction of Cascade Dam No 1 in 1905 to the building of Greaves Creek Dam in 1942.
