Project Status

The Tamar Lake project is still in the early stages of planning with $600,000 of private funding in the form of cash, kind, and pro bono consulting services invested to date in examining the technical, environmental and economic viability of the project.

Since the formation  of Tamar Lake Inc in 2010, the following studies have been commissioned and carried out, with the results incorporated in this web site, and available for downloading in the Feasibility Report below.

• Tamar Lake Feasibility Report – Overview
• Feasibility Report – Part 1 – Strategy and Benefits
• Feasibility Report – Part 2 – Environmental, Technical, Economic and Funding Studies

Studies carried out  to date:

• Preliminary Technical Assessment – 35 pages – BMT WBM          – Dr. Ian Teakle – February 2012
• Pre-feasibility Study for water transfer by a “Submarine River” from Tasmania to Victoria – Via Marina, September 2012
• Natural Values Assessment – 160 pages – BMT WBM          – Dr. Andrew Costen – June 2012
• Ecological Assessment of threatened species and potential eco-system impacts – 35 pages – CDM Smith – Dr. Mark Breitfuss – June 2012
• Tamar Lake Economic Study – 39 pages – NERA Economic Consultants – Greg Houston – April 2013
• Tamar Lake Agricultural Benefits – 14 pages – Macquarie Franklin – Lance Davey – March 2013
• Barrage siting and costing – CDM Smith – Marco van Winden – March 2012
• Tamar Lake Economic Impact – 35 pages – KPMG – Martin Rees – July 2014
• Tamar Lake Flood Modelling – 15 pages -BMT WBM – Philip Pedruco – November 2014
• Environmental Impact – Peer review by NRM North – November 2014
  The Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers (TEER) program of NRM North has conducted a peer review of the Tamar Lake Inc of the environmental studies carried out by BMT WBM and CDM Smith.
  The Executive Summary of this report is available from the Tamar Lake web site, and the full report is available from the NRM North web site.
• Research on Destratification Systems – BMT WBM –  Michael Barry – R. B20921 – February 2016
  
• Review of BMT WBM Tamar Lake Scenarios Update – Tony Church and Associates – February 2016
• 3 D Hydrodynamic Studies – BMT WBM – Michael Barry – January 2016
  With the agreement of the manager of the stakeholder owned 3D Hydrodynamic model of the Tamar, NRM North, BMT WBM has modelled a range of Tamar Lake scenarios that looks at the effect of the formation of the Tamar Lake on sediment transport and water quality compared with the current tidal environment with the same input flows.
  The specific scenario modelling carried out to date includes:

1. The concentration of suspended sediments near the water surface and near the bed for the 17 TEER program water quality sites from Cataract Gorge to Low Head.
2. Sediment accumulation for the 12 months July 2010 to June 2011 for two locations:
   1. The Home Reach section from the North Esk to Tamar Island
   2. The estuarine section from the barrage in Long Reach to Low Head
3. Sediment accumulations for a 3 month dry period from January 2009 to March 2009 for the Home Reach section from the North Esk to Tamar Island
4. Impact of the barrage on water levels downstream of the barrage
5. A range of water quality scenarios for the 17 sites Cataract Gorge to Low Head comparing the current estuarine case against the proposed barrage case
6. Estimate of the transfer time from a salt water estuarine system to a freshwater lake system after construction of the barrage
7. Global Research on destratification systems for mitigating the risk of Algal Bloom
8. Investigation of a range of destratification methods for reducing the risk of late summer algal blooms by controlling the release of reduced dissolved oxygen water through outlets at the base and top of the barrage.
9. Investigation of the water quality in Zone 1 in a Tamar Lake environment versus the current estuarine environment

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