Building or buying a dam

As a dam owner, you are responsible for the consequences of dam failure. Failure or unexpected releases of water from dams can potentially impact life, property, and the environment. The loss of stored water may also affect your income.

You are responsible for appropriately operating, inspecting, and maintaining your dam at all times, even during times of drought. Neglecting your dam during dry times may require substantial repair work before it can safely be used again.

Learn about the importance of dam safety and managing dams.

Referable dams

Dams whose failure would put 2 or more people at risk are referable dams, and their owners are required to meet certain requirements, such as having an approved emergency action plan for the dam.

Learn more about how referable dams are regulated under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008.

Considerations

If you are building or buying a dam, consider the following:

• Talk to your local council about local planning scheme requirements.
• Under the Planning Act 2016 and State Development Assessment Provisions [State code 20: Referable dams (PDF, 115KB)], a development permit is required to construct or modify a referable dam (the process used to assess and decide developments is set out in the provisions).
• You will need a water licence for taking or interfering with water in a watercourse, lake, or spring.
• You may need a water licence for taking or interfering with surface water, groundwater or overland flow water.
• Development approval may be required for waterway barrier works.
• You will need to apply for development approval for the removal of quarry materials from watercourses or lakes.
• You may need a clearing permit before clearing protected native plants.

Building a dam

A badly situated, designed, or constructed dam could cause ongoing expense, may not reliably store water, and could impact your neighbours. Think about the impacts that your dam may have, both when it is operating and if it were to fail.

Design and construction works should be done by a contractor with previous experience with dams. Where required, consult with a suitably qualified and experienced Queensland registered professional engineer as part of the process. This is a requirement for design and construction work on referable dams.

Dams are a common source of dispute between neighbours. To reduce the chance of a complaint, consider who may be affected by the dam before construction starts and consult with any nearby people who may be impacted by the construction or by any changes to water flow caused by the dam.

Read the Small dam safety handbook (PDF, 5.1MB) for rural and small irrigation dams.

Buying or selling a property with a dam

When there is a change in ownership of a referable dam, the former dam owner must provide the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers with details of the new owner and ensure all dam safety documentation has been provided to the new owner within 10 business days.

If you are unsure whether a dam is referable, or if you are concerned its failure could cause harm to people, email damsafety@rdmw.qld.gov.au.