Related: Fountaindale dam to be examined
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KIAMA Municipal Council has allocated $200,000 in its 2015-16 budget for studies into the century-old Fountaindale Dam.
However, the council will pursue funds from the NSW government to help with the studies requested by the government's Dams Safety Committee (DSC).
The council is also preparing a notice of motion to take to the NSW Local Government conference regarding the costs incurred by councils to manage dams that were previously state government infrastructure.
The council is about to start work on decommissioning Jerrara Dam.
Kiama Council's general manager, Michael Forsyth, said the dams the council had were inherited state infrastructure and, decades after they were handed over, the cost burden of studies and removal had been passed on to councils.
Kiama Mayor Brian Petschler said Fountaindale Dam had never been of any use to the council.
"There must be other councils, particularly on the coastal strip, in a similar position," Cr Petschler said.
The required studies include a "potential loss of life study" costing $10,000 through to a $135,000 structural analysis.
The DSC has specified the studies must be complete by June 2016.
Fountaindale Dam is a concrete arch dam constructed in 1909 by the NSW Public Works.
The dam is 15 metres high with a crest length of 89 metres.
It was designed to have a capacity of about 61 megalitres, but 106 years later its capacity has been reduced to about 20 megalitres because of siltation.
A 2008 report estimated that decommissioning the dam could cost about $700,000, but this figure did not include any detailed environmental studies.
Source: Illawarra Mercury