THE CHUTE

This is where the Waters and Rivers Commission measures the flow of water into the Wellington Dam from the Collie River. You can see the water level, temperature and conductivity at the  Waters and Rivers Commission website here.

GPS co-ordinates for The Chute are:

S 33 22' 27.7"

E 116 05' 48.0"

Elevation 170m

The water level is measured at this underwater pipe. I think they inject a small amount of gas from a bottle into a tube which is underwater, the back pressure of the gas required to force the gas to bubble out is measured with a sensitive pressure device and this is converted into a head height of the water level.

I think the pressure measuring equipment is kept in here. If you look on the side of this tower, about halfway up is a marker indicating the 1982 flood level.

This hut stores a small telemetry device to send the data back to the office. You can find the data for many river stations here.

Looking downstream.

This small weir is actually a flow measuring device. The flow rate of the water can be calculated from the height of the water crossing this vee notch weir.

Looking through The Chute.

In winter time this is a scary rapid. It's the biggest rapid in the Collie Descent canoe race.

This what it looks like in the winter. That's my finger on the lens. I'll try and get a better shot next winter.