Rehabilitation of the Happy Valley DamPrint Page

The monument commemorates the rehabilitation of the Happy Valley Dam in June 2004. 

Built between 1892 and 1897 at a cost of A$1.8 million it was the third reservoir constructed in South Australia as a supplement to the Thornden Park Reservoir (built 1860) and the Hope Valley Reservoir (built 1872). The original Happy Valley township, school and cemetery were completely flooded by the new reservoir requiring their relocation. The township was moved to the east while the cemetery, which is still in use today, was moved to the west and relocated alongside the base of the dam wall.

Between 2002 and 2004, the Reservoir underwent a major renovation as part of A$22 million rehabilitation project aimed at enhancing the Reservoir to meet guidelines of best practice for dam management at both international and national levels. The reservoir's earth wall was particularly susceptible to piping failure (a small leak, called a pipe, gets larger until the dam collapses) and the renovations lowered the risk of dam wall failure from 1 in 1,200 to an estimated 1 in 100,000. Part of this project included an upgrade of the dam wall designed to also increase flood storage capacity by 165% and reduce risk of damage in the event of an earthquake.

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