Old Lake Pedder, 1970

Lake Pedder is a lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia and consists of a large water catchment contained by three dams. The dams were built as part of the Gordon River power scheme to provide hydro-electricity for Tasmania. These and other dams were constructed as part of a push for cheap renewable energy in the 1970s. Lake Pedder is joined with Lake Gordon by McPartlan Canal, and together both lakes are the biggest water-storage catchment in Australia.

Three dams exist on Lake Pedder:

• Serpentine is a 38 m high rockfill dam with a concrete upstream face on the Serpentine River.
• Scotts Peak is a 43 m high rockfill dam with a bitumen upstream face on the upper reaches of the Huon River near Scotts Peak.
• Edgar is a 17 m high rockfill dam at Lake Edgar near Scotts Peak.

There were many protests concerning the construction of the dam as it flooded. These were headed by a group called the United Tasmania Group whom were the precursor to the Tasmanian Greens and are now recognised as the world's first green party. The main concerns over the construction of the dam revolved around the loss of the distinctive pink quartzite beach of the original lake.

External links

• Panaorama of new Lake Pedder
• Lake Pedder Restoration Committee
• Essay concerning the issues surrounding the Dam's contruction