Physical description

John Perry Collection. Laminated map of Lake Eppalock at full capacity. Black and white.
The dam was built by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission of Victoria. The dam wall height is 45 metres (148 ft) and the main embankment is 1,041 metres (3,415 ft) long. At 100% capacity the dam wall was designed to hold back 304,651 megalitres (6.7014×1010 imp gal; 8.0480×1010 US gal) of water. The surface area of Lake Eppalock is 3,011 hectares (7,440 acres) and the catchment area is 2,124 square kilometres (820 sq mi). The controlled spillway is capable of discharging 8,040 cubic metres per second (284,000 cu ft/s).
Lake Eppalock supplies both stock and domestic water to the Campaspe irrigation district. It also serves as a water supply to Bendigo and Heathcote and, in more recent times, Ballarat.
The lake is a major attraction for those engaging in watersports, with a number of tourist parks and accommodation facilities available. Permissible activities on the lake include high-speed boating, water skiing, sailing, canoeing, fishing and swimming. The lake's water levels were low for approximately eight years between 2002 and 2010 during a prolonged drought, which restricted the amount of recreational activity until rainfall in the latter half of 2010 returned the lake to 100 percent capacity.
Built between 1961 and 1964, Lake Eppalock remains the only water storage on the Campaspe River system.