Volume of water in lake eppalock

[Bob]

Lake Eppalock has a Capacity of 304,650 ml and as of yesterday it was holding 361,106 which is 118%.
It was flowing 2 Metres over the Spillway on Friday which caused flooding at Rochester and Echuca.

[AB]

Unbelievable Bob!

I too didnt understand that either Plassy.

[DX grunt]

Unbelievable Bob!

I too didnt understand that either Plassy.

I still don't. Please explain.

[Finly Owner]

And futhermore from what they were saying up here, there can be two parts to a dam as well. The water supply catchment and the flood prevention catchment. So the drinking supply can be at 100% or more if over flowing, then have the flood prevention behind it causing levels like 150% and more.

Check, I'm 90% sure Plassys' old man would give me full marks.

[Bob]

Uh-oh, I'll try but I'm not an expert.

If a reservoir was at 100% capacity, the water level would be right at the top of the spillway but not flowing over it. So for water to spill over the reservoir has to be higher than 100%. When water flows into a reservoir the water spreads out across the catchment area. Only a small part of the perimeter allows water to flow out so most of the water is trapped within the catchment. So water can collect in the reservoir above and beyond the level of the spillway (over the 100% level). When the water stops flowing in then the water will continue to spill over until the reservoir is back to 100% capacity, then it stops.

That's a very amateur attempt to explain it.

Good explanation. Eppalock covers quite a large area and the spillway is perhaps 20 Metres wide and was overflowing by 2 metres which over the area of the Lake is a considerable amount of Water.
The reading yesterday was 344829 ml which is 113%. This time last year it was 7.5% full