History of Toowoomba's water supply

In Toowoomba today there are three different water sources - underground bores, tanks and dams. If you had lived here in the mid 1800s you would have gone to a spring or a well for your water, but later on - around 1880 - the first bores were sunk.

As our city grew, so did the demand for water. Now we have three big storages which are part of our water supply system. Cooby Dam was completed in 1941. Perseverance Dam was built during the 1960s and Cressbrook Dam was completed 20 years later. By this time Toowoomba's population had grown to over 80,000.

Until 2006 we had 13 bores delivering between 10-15% of Toowoomba's water needs. Today we have twenty production bores, and these are used to provide about 30-35% of the city's needs.

The city's population is still growing, and we are using more water per person than was used 30 years ago, so the demand on our water supply continues to grow.

Toowoomba's drinking water is currently supplied by three major dams, Cressbrook, Cooby and Perserverance,  several bore stations, including three bores tapping into the Great Artesian Basin, and supported by a connecting pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam.  This pipeline link acts as a lifeline for the growing needs of Toowoomba region providing a secure and sustainable future for this region.