Type reservoir Primary outflows Swamp Creek Water volume 11.8 million m³ | Primary inflows Basin countries Australia | |
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Location City of Townsville, Queensland | ||
Lake Paluma is a drinking water storage facility owned by NQ Water and is situated close to Mount Spec, high above the Paluma Range National Park. Lake Paluma has a capacity of 11,800 megalitres.
Map of Paluma Reservoir, Queensland 4816, Australia
The dam is part of a unique water supply system that gravity feeds up to 50 megalitres of water per day to the city of Townsville. For most of the year water flowing from the Mount Spec part of the national park is collected and filtered at the Crystal Creek intake and then piped under gravity to Townsville. When Crystal Creek water levels are low, water is released into the creek from Lake Paluma via another gravity pipeline.
Lake Paluma is nestled among World Heritage listed, wet tropics rainforest. The lake is open for a range of nature based recreational activities such as canoeing, sailing and swimming. Lake Paluma is only accessible via a 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) gravel road just past the township of Paluma. Visitor facilities include picnic shelters and barbecues and bookings are essential. The area is home to the platypus, peregrine falcon, eastern water dragon and a range of rainforest fauna.