The building of the Clutha River By Tiff Toff Toffee Pop Jan 1, 1945 Investergations begin to potentialy dam the Clutha river Period: Jan 1, 1945 to Dec 31, 1948 Clutha river daming history Jan 1, 1948 Building Roxburgh dam Jan 1, 1959 Lake Hawea rises 20m Jan 1, 1963 Investergations to build more dams on the Clutha Jan 1, 1971 Outlining the environmental effect of damming the Clutha Jan 1, 1976 Site selected for the dam to be built Jan 1, 1977 starting ground work before water right Jan 1, 1977 water right granted for a low dam Jan 1, 1979 begining to build right side of dam, large concrete construction Jan 1, 1981 government agrees for the dam to be higher Jan 1, 1981 government puts out a tender Jan 1, 1982 tender accepts at a cost of 102.6 million dollars Jan 1, 1982 faultline discovered, dam redesigned to cope with the slip joint Jan 1, 1987 1000 worker imployed to work on site Jan 1, 1990 Gorge stabilization work completed, extra cost Jan 1, 1993 dam is finished, resvoir filled and flooded cromwell gorge Apr 23, 1994 dam officially opened Jan 1, 1996 contact energy now operates the clyde and roxburgh dams Jan 1, 2004 EME from Australia gets 51.2% share holdings of contact energy Jan 1, 2009 contact energy released plans for 5 more dams on the clutha May 1, 2012 contact energy withdraws all plans to build dams on the clutha