Snowy Mountains Scheme

The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a massive water diversion and storage scheme, diverting water from the eastern slopes of the Australian Alps (part of the Great Dividing Range) in northern Victoria and southern New South Wales into a series of dams through pipes and water tunnels, for use in power generation and ultimately for irrigation in both the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys.

The largest single diverted stream, the Snowy River, was reduced to just one percent of its former flow for many years, causing extensive environmental damage. In the early part of the 21st century, a gradual cutback in the diversions began to take effect: the target is 17% of natural flow, but so far only 2% has been achieved.

TODO:

• Details of the scheme (pictures required).
• History of proposal and construction.
• Huge number of immigrant workers, many deaths.
• Economic impact.
• Current operation (privatization, recent diversion reduction).