Lake Eppalock

Lake Eppalock is a reservoir in North Central Victoria, Australia, about northwest of Melbourne. It was formed by the construction of a major earth and rockfill embankment dam, known as Eppalock Dam, with a controlled chute spillway across the Campaspe and the Coliban rivers. The lake is situated between the regional population centres of Bendigo and Heathcote and serves as a major water storage facility for both places, as well as the Campaspe irrigation district. The lake also serves as a popular sports and recreational facility.Location and featuresThe dam was built by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria. The dam wall height is and the main embankment is long. At 100% capacity the dam wall was designed to hold back 304651ML of water. The surface area of Lake Eppalock is 3011ha and the catchment area is. The controlled spillway is capable of discharging.Lake Eppalock supplies both stock and domestic water to the Campaspe irrigation district. It also serves as a water supply to Bendigo and Heathcote and in more recent times, Ballarat.The lake is a major attraction for those engaging in watersports, with a number of tourist parks and accommodation facilities available. Permissible activities on the lake include high-speed boating, water skiing, sailing, canoeing, fishing and swimming. The lake water levels were low for approximately eight years between 2002 and 2010 during a prolonged drought, which restricted the amount of recreational activity until rainfall in the latter half of 2010 returned the lake to 100 percent capacity. A speed restriction of 5 knots is placed on the lake when the level falls below 16 percent or.