Bart Bear's Blog

Our lake, Lake Burley Griffin, is very low and has been for a while now. I wondered why, because it has been raining fairly often and all the dams are full. I thought it might have been so that the rubbish from the floods last year could be cleared a bit more easily but that has all been done now and the lake is still low. You can see from the top photo just how low. The rocks are normally covered by half a metre of water. They have been uncovered now for long enough that weeds are starting to grow in the sandier patches. Obviously something has happened that keeps the lake low. The answer is at Scrivener Dam, the dam that makes the lake. At least one outlet is open for hours every day. The reason is that the hinges on the big flood gates have started corroding and have to be replaced. That means that the lake has to be kept low so that workmen can get to the hinges. Some waterbirds are a bit upset about that because they have been nesting in the swampy bits around some of the lake edges and their nests are now on dry land and foxes and cats could get at them. I hope the lake is back to full before the next nesting season because I think small swans and dabchicks are cute.

Labels: Canberra