Six Mile Creek Dam Safety Upgrade project

Project overview*

Status	Approved with conditions
Description	Proposal to upgrade the Six Mile Creek Dam to meet modern safety standards
Proponent	Seqwater (Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority)
Location/s	Lake Macdonald, approximately 4km from Cooroy in Noosa Shire Map
Local government/s	Noosa Shire Council
Investment	$100 million
Key features	staged and temporary lowering of the dam’s water level construction of a temporary sheet pile coffer dam decommissioning and demolition of the existing spillway and embankments construction of a temporary concrete batching plant construction of the replacement spillway in the current dam footprint with new structure built to modern safety standards with the same capacity and area reconstruction of the right and left embankments construction of an auxiliary dam, to prevent flood water discharging from the lake along Collwood Road.
Expected completion	2026
Jobs	Up to 110 (construction)

Project changes

Since the publication of the Coordinator-General’s report on the impact assessment report (IAR) in 2019, the proponent has applied for changes to the Six Mile Creek Dam Safety Upgrade project.

Have your say

In May 2019, the Coordinator-General published an evaluation report on the impact assessment report (IAR) for the Six Mile Creek Dam Safety Upgrade project, determining that the project could proceed subject to conditions.

Seqwater recently submitted an application for project change related to an amended construction methodology and a refined temporary coffer dam design to the Coordinator-General. Changes proposed aim to reduce environmental impacts and improve water security for the region.

The Coordinator-General has released the application for public and government agency comment.

You are invited to make a submission on the application, including the potential environmental impacts of the proposed change.

The Coordinator-General will consider your submission when assessing the project change application.

Submissions close on Tuesday 28 January 2025.

Read and make a submission on the project change application.

IAR process

Date	Activity
15 May 2023	Coordinator-General stated a new lapse date for the Coordinator-General’s IAR evaluation report of 20 May 2025.
7 November 2019	Australian Minister for the Environment’s approval of ‘controlled action’ subject to conditions.
20 May 2019	Coordinator-General’s report on final IAR ( 6.6 MB) released.
30 April 2019	The Coordinator-General accepted the draft IAR as the final IAR. Impact assessment report submitted. Supplementary information to the IAR submitted.
11 February 2019 to 11 March 2019	Draft IAR public consultation.
22 December 2017	Gazettal ( 250 KB) of ‘coordinated project’ declaration.
6 December 2017	Australian Minister for the Environment and Energy decided the project is a ‘controlled action’. A project that has the potential to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance is called a 'controlled action' and requires approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).
18 October 2017	Project referred to the Australian Minister for the Environment and Energy.
15 September 2017	Application, including initial advice statement ( 3.2 MB), submitted.