A New Reservoir To Feed Thousands of Australians!

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Welcome to the Roaches Surge Reservoir project outside Yanco, New South Wales, Australia.
To better serve local farmers, the water district is transforming farmland into an enormous reservoir.
Which brings us to the earthmoving... MC Earthmoving has worked hard to move over one million cubic meters of earth and grade over 800,000 square meters of land.
The mass excavation was in full swing when we last visited in May 2023. Today, they're putting the finishing touches on the project, which will soon fill with water for many years to come.
To learn more about MC Earthmoving or look for job opportunities, you can check out their website at www.mcearthmov...

[@linmal2242]

Love that beautiful Kelpie sitting in the middle seat. What a lovely doggie; he's helping I'm sure !

[@stevegraham3817]

That's a nice evaporation pond.

[@geckoesncrows]

My first thought too, but then realised we have one of those in FNQ just west of Mareeba, which is possibly bigger than this one being built in NSW.

[@stevegraham3817]

@@geckoesncrows At least Mareeba gets rainfall, usually tropical and or cyclone rainfall, and very seldom will you see 8 years of drought in a row.

[@ohasis8331]

My understanding is they could lose two meters per annum.

[@stevegraham3817]

@@ohasis8331 How high are those walls? So they could be losing 20-25% of capacity, which would be okay if it just turned into rin in the next paddock and didn't get blown 1000km and out to sea.

[@paulmeakin3376]

The rate of evaporation is directly related to the surface area, therefore halve the area, double the depth (same volume of water) and you will have half the evaporation and loss of water

[@joekeegan-yc4nm]

💯💯💯

[@sandorrubane8964]

Given that I'd be interested to know why it isn't for example half the surface area size and twice the depth? Anyone able to share why the dimensions it is built to are optimal?

[@MS-wz9jm]

@@sandorrubane8964 Cost - would no longer be worth doing.

[@mysty0]

Forget the evaporation, that things tiny. I've seen bigger yabby dams

[@joekeegan-yc4nm]

@@mysty0 Mate I agree with you all day. Australia shitty country to not move water around where needed from massive dam to massive dam across country.

[@mcc19606]

Really appreciate the update on this project. While it's happening in our backyard, we wouldn't have known about it outside of this channel.

[@ProudPapaw88]

Great video, Aaron. I could sit and watch your videos all day lol. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!!

[@htbuckley]

Onya Witt'y... I'm from Queensland and had no idea they were building this reservoir, thanks for informing us. Ya never see this sort of stuff on the TV. To my way of thinking this is nation building, not like sport and film stars having affairs . I watch your vids when I see them, like the new mines west of Mackay with no driver trucks!! Keep it up mate and watch out for dingoes they might round up the sheep and cattle, even drive a D11...!!

[@AaronWitt]

that's for watching mate

[@hiddenpandacapital6990]

"Nation Building" - Don't mention those two words to a Politician, the head will tilt to the left, the eye's will stare back at you with a vacant, glazed look.

[@ohasis8331]

@@hiddenpandacapital6990 You've captured Bowen in a sentence.

[@squa_81]

*Proceeds to destroy river ecosystems, and drinking water supplies for downstream inhabitants*

[@jamwaffles]

I wonder how many of these machines Kurtis has repaired

[@aaron5316]

Best comment

[@Sarge084]

Bet they don't have a Franna crane on the reservoir job though!

[@nc1183]

As in Kurtis from Cutting Edge Engineering frame? I doubt he's fixed any as he is in Dalby/Toowoomba Queensland area.

[@Kyle_Moss]

Cee is in ormeau between Brisbane and Gold Coast

[@samkessler1111]

@@nc1183machines like this are very hard to find a decent machinist that can fix them. It’s even harder to find one that can get it done in a timely manner. Often it’s get it to whoever can fix it and get it back the quickest. I wouldn’t be surprised if CCE has done work on these machines

[@feral4mr2]

Will end up owned by foreign entity and used primarily for them only..... That's the Australian way.

[@guntramsauermann]

very nice! we plan a smaller basin (only 40.000m²). on top will be a floating PV that helps to finace the building and acts like a kind of roof: less evaporation, less light and algees. we still struggle with the adminsitration ..... but we still have hope!

[@jascollinscork]

Beautiful job 🔥🔥🔥😍😍😍

[@carholic-sz3qv]

4:39 the Dog saying wtf are you doing mate? 🤣😂

[@dand5593]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@matton36]

He sayin at 7:41, "Who the eff you calling a Dingo mate!"

[@wonderfulworld5134]

@@matton36 Thats' a Doberman. A good family dog that protects children.

[@matton36]

@@wonderfulworld5134 Yep. Thats why he asking why he callin him a Dingo

[@arffadailey8055]

The dog is a Kelpie.A herding dog, sheep & cattle etc.

[@WACRE44]

You make all the kids laugh cause the dog has a collar on ❤lol😅

[@ceeemm1901]

Haha, I think that it was a kelpie gave it away more than it's collar....

[@greymarket6834]

oh yeah baby i like it when you compact the earth like that. niiiiice and slooooowwww

[@amandagardner565]

did the earth move for you?

[@davidwindsor4632]

Well now a kelpy as a dingo right. That is almost as good as Arron driving a manual. 🤣👍

[@ceeemm1901]

Isn't that the canine equivalent of "blacking up"?

[@JoelTopsom]

It's Kelpie mate.😊

[@JoelTopsom]

And there are black and tan kelpies so no need to black up.😂😂😂

[@Martin_Priesthood]

Beautiful 👍💪💯👏

[@anthonyburke5656]

Nice looking Kelpie

[@aussiefarmer8741]

Another classic case of taking water upstream from South Australia and leaving us with bugger all.

[@SamWilkinsonn]

I shouldn’t chuckle but the way you phrased it made me

[@aussiefox2000]

Im with a lot of the other comments. Reduce the area and increase the depth. Evaporation is going to be huge.

[@ceeemm1901]

Yep.

[@royreynolds108]

Could dump in millions of black plastic balls to cover the water surface to cut the evaporation. Look it up.

[@ridleyscurry2480]

Are they going to put anything over the water to help with evaporation? a giant solar panel farm would be pretty cool i think.

[@matton36]

Solar panels are environmental hazards

[@freedomrings1420]

LOL 😂, you must be a Democrat.

[@stevenaune2837]

We built a reservoir and topped it with thick wall PVC balls. for just this reason.

[@markenda1]

@@stevenaune2837 I remember seeing a video about that being done in a reservoir in California.

[@_peepyopee]

​@@markenda1 that was for algae, not evaporation

[@jeanettenorman7052]

What about evaporation on such a huge shallow body of water?

[@StephenPinter]

Aaron. Great video. It would have been nice to have acknowledged Entrcon as the head contractor and our Client MI for this project, seeing that we allowed you access to create this video.

[@philhey8847]

Guess you didn't watch the whole video.

[@essexfarmer9610]

Can you please continue the story and show it filling up, full and deploying water back to the canal?

[@freedomrings1420]

Knew some good dozer operators in the past that could do slope work without any GPS. Now today everything has GPS , which means that most dozer operators couldn't do slope work without it. Just like grader operators. Another nice job and engineering on this project. PS. I never had a asslevel, so i was never good at final grade work.

[@Pea-bj2qv]

Another skill being lost because of technology. Now operators are just seat warmers.

[@typeebs93]

Actually the GPS does not do it for you, you still have to know how to run the dozer and develop your eye for grade. The GPS can really screw you if you don't know what your doing. You still need to know where your low points and high points are and where material needs to be be placed and removed. In the end it's a tool to speed up the grade process and not have to have someone standing checking grade.

[@freedomrings1420]

@@typeebs93 LOL 😂, I'm a retired heavy equipment operator. I don't need a lesson from you. Thanks anyways.

[@freedomrings1420]

@@typeebs93 LOL 😂, come back hours later to edit your comment, you must be talking about yourself being a armchair warrior. I grew up on a dairy farm, did 5 years in the Seabees as a heavy equipment operator, years with The Middlesex Company in Florida, years with Newport Materials in Westford Massachusetts, years with The Gorman Brothers in the Port of Albany NY . And other companies. Good try cupcake.

[@Rel1369]

A great operator to see (you probably already know of)is Chris from Letsdig18, Aaron is a big fan of his and how good an operator he is.

[@armwrestlingprofessor]

Chuck some solar panels over top to minimise the evaporation. The cooling effect of the water will also increase the panel efficiency. Win-win

[@sarcasmo57]

That's so rad.

[@davidanalyst671]

This sure is important to the Aussies. I don't know if you did a video of north Australia, but they built a mega canal system, and they are having problems deciding where the water goes.

[@--Nath--]

The rivers dying because the big agri businesses are stealing all the water to grow utterly unsuitable crops is what is more concerning.

[@anthonyburke5656]

Reminiscent of a Reservoir in Sri Lanka, built about 1,000 years ago, still in use partially.

[@KL0WNK1NG]

I was running around up near yanco doing rice and was wondering where all the side tippers where headed with rock, I think I now know where they where headed

[@AaronWitt]

bingo

[@Pablo-t6q7h]

you do water tooo dang im glad i subscribed

[@davidporter4162]

Thanks for the video, it is really interesting to see. Sorry to be a pedant though but 1m is almost 3.3 feet which makes a big difference to a structure that size!

[@davidwatson3921]

I wonder if they have taken into account the amount of evaporation that will take place? Or are they going to cover the surface with some type of membrane?

[@lokesh303101]

Yes!

[@trevx3680]

If you covered part or all of with solar panels you can generate electricity while reducing evaporation. In addition the water would keep the panels cooler which would increase their efficiency. Just an idea.

[@anthonyjohnson100]

I need a pond that size in my backyard!!

[@Robert-xs2mv]

You need a decent backyard first.

[@gardengnome3249]

@@Robert-xs2mv The implication was he had a back yard that big. That's the way I saw it. What he needs is the money to accomplish it.

[@Robert-xs2mv]

@@gardengnome3249 Duh! Homer Simpson. Try seeing beyond the flaming obvious.

[@gardengnome3249]

@@Robert-xs2mv Thank you your hint is right on the money.

[@mick00000000002]

Thank you just join.

[@stevenford4719]

I have 2 Questions what has been done to stop seepage into the water table below & what is going to be done to reduce evaporation on such a huge body of water . Such an area will louse a decent percentage in both directions .

[@UncleManuel]

Or maybe that farmer thing was just an excuse to build the world's largest swimming pool. 😁😜🤟

[@ceeemm1901]

Ski park or maybe next Americas Cup venue.

[@JoelTopsom]

It seems like a lot of work but us Aussies are bloody geniuses

[@zumamaya2396]

Yeah, it takes a genius to build a shallow, open air pond in a State that gets regular high temperatures. Next project - build a pipeline to carry water from Victoria so you can keep it topped up 😂😂😂

[@bjrnhjjakobsen2174]

Could you put a google maps link🙏 to watch the progress

[@maxwalker1159]

Cool!

[@CalamityJay-ez2mq]

What a great idea, handing over even more water from our already overdrawn rivers to massive agriculture corporations and its in NSW so i bet theyre definitely paying a fair rate for the water theyre taking

[@--Nath--]

It's probably for cotton or something.. so for fast fashion that will end up in landfill. And it'll be taking water that would have gone into the rivers to try keep them alive.. Which farming has also pretty much stuffed the rivers thanks to irrigation (including illegal water pumping). There's been major fish kills due to the dire state of the rivers.

[@tilapiadave3234]

LMAO ,,, mate you should top eating food ,, your wasting our water

[@amandagardner565]

yeah i shock my head - they are filling it from the river - depriving EVERYONE down stream of their water rights. now if it was to be filled via high volume pumping from flood prone areas that would make a lot more bloody sense. i've been saying for 20+ year build - bloody big reservoirs in the outback and mega high flow pumps from there and in flood areas. leave the damn rivers to be natural habit and supply the farmers from zillion litre cisterns.

[@chrish3030]

The natural health of our rivers is declining the whole world over, it’s a disgrace

[@tilapiadave3234]

@@chrish3030 nobody is stopping you to fix it ,,, what's your plan?

[@aussietom85]

This is the Griffith irrigation area, they make wine and fruit mostly. It's on the Murrumbidgee not the Darling where the fish kills have occurred.

[@WiththegraceofgodHJ]

We cultivate so much land. Export so much food, yet we have f*ck all water availability!

[@Bullock4317]

4:58 this clip had me laughing out loud 😂

[@henryjanicky4978]

We need desperately such structures, so easy to build, so much benefits

[@antoncarmoducchi6057]

The evaporation will be horrendous

[@SmallWonda]

Cool - can you return in another year to see it working? Gotta have a Kelpie, eh? Mine sends big wags!

[@lynettewalker9744]

Whis this water being taken from south Australia we need water too

[@BlueBeeMCMLXI]

Not feed, but Water ... evaporative loss in northern Australian is about 9 cubic metres per day.

[@elizabethcooke8998]

Why is there still an open channel involved? South Australia converted its channels (mostly concrete)in approx 1968. When is NSW going to get rid of channels from which water evaporates and soaks into the earth.😅

[@GeeROO]

All down to cost.

[@chrismcguirk6552]

Can we water ski and fish in it when it is full ?

[@ceeemm1901]

So the water's coming out of the Mighty Murrumbidge? Anyone worked out the evaporation rate?

[@davidjohn9006]

Grow food? Or is that cotton? Just asking?

[@lockl9255]

And where is the water coming from to fill the canal?

[@Paul-li9hq]

What's being done about evaporation loss??? I would have gone for a smaller surface area... but way, way deeper! And a smaller surface area would make it easier to cover - to stop evaporation loss?

[@peternewman958]

Water is essential here in Australia unfortunately we either get too much and it floods or not enough and were in drought conditions and water rationing.

[@--Nath--]

Water theft by farming too.

[@tilapiadave3234]

@@--Nath-- Stop eating Nath ,,, your wasting resources

[@CraigMeier-m9p]

Why wouldn't they make it a smaller size but go as deep as possible so you don't waste as much land and have less evaporation.

[@mitchell7203]

There could be soil limitations when the go down deeper, and also just in terms of sheer cost, deeper is always more expensive. Getting massive amounts of material out of a deep hole is difficult process. Plus, in Australia, land is NOT something in short supply, not by a long shot.

[@klo1679]

Because the soil in this area is so fucking hard it’s not worth going past the dirt.

[@Jason-rs6co]

catchment area

[@michaeljoncour4903]

@@mitchell7203 doing things the cheap way is almost never the right way, i hope it is successful, i heard the other day the snowy pumped hydro scheme had gone from 2 billion to 12 billion and some say it will be a failure.

[@mitchell7203]

@@michaeljoncour4903 Well now here is where we get into guessing and conjecture. We don't know which is the right way. The other disadvantage to a deep basin, is that pumping it will require either a significant amount of auction capability from whichever pump, or a pump at the bottom that will need to push a significant head of water.

[@dermotbalaam5358]

What’s the average evaporation rate going to be?

[@Ekka007]

I checked BOM's mapping, around 2m per annum

[@nickk5731]

Mate dont worry about that “dingo” you found lol But def watch out for drop bears. Them ones look like koalas but are viscious attack animals. To many tourists get attacked by them because rhey rhink they little cuddly bear. Seen me one once rip the legs clean off a crocodile.

[@johnaashmore]

Evaporation, sure. What about algae?

[@andrewmcfarland57]

Will there be bass in it?🙂

[@markmckenna1353]

the hell with the river

[@charlesmullins3238]

Boy if you could’ve filmed Ky surface mine reclamation when I grew up in 80s and 90s it was fun to watch big iron 500yrds from the house bench hollerfills and then hual rock down to make ditches…track loaders bring rock down to excavators that swing sideways allday on slopes making perfect rock beds for water flow. A buddie was in a d400 artic truck and lost brakes goin down amd excavator stopped him. Had some unique wisedas if that’s how it’s spelled trucks back here that you can find on pamining channel which were monsters in that time…I’ve been on 5500 shovels…8050 draglines…d11r carrydozers…994 loaders and everything in between growin up in coal fields..

[@Aiken47]

Where was that water supposed to go?

[@ceeemm1901]

Farms, it's in a big agricultural food bowl.

[@ohasis8331]

Up

[@roberthoepfl4513]

Is this why our rivers stop flowing .?

[@davidcummings2020]

Should have done an open cut pit. Im not confident in this type of damn wall it will most likely fail out I hope not , good luck I hope the venture works out well

[@NgocthachNguyen-qp3il]

Toàn là phương tiện mới và mạnh mẽ

[@NevFTW]

I wonder if they will do the black ball trick for the evaporation, or even better imo, solar farm on top.

[@luisnunes7933]

No! A meter is arround 3.3ft (silly unit!).

[@mattmacca3990]

And we wonder why the Murray Darling is in such a mess.. Good idea in principle until the bureaucrats and politicians get involved..

[@jedics1]

With so much surface area isn't evaporation going to be ridiculously high?

[@Joe-jd4pn]

Another huge salt scald on the way. Keep that water nice and high!

[@grahamholton8542]

They tried shallow reservoirs in Victoria after WW1. They turned into salt pans

[@BaliFreedom]

It’s not lined then ? Dreaming

[@SmashingBricksAU]

Komatsu HM300! I would have thought they would have used the HM400. Mate the amount of people that will think that the dog was an actual dingo 🤣

[@keithdrower9120]

That is not a Dingo, mate. !

[@fulltimber]

I'm surprised they let you onsite with your American hardhat that does not confirm AS1801 . Nor be allowed to operate a manual vehicle onsite without being proficient at operating one

[@kevinanderson7460]

What is the return on investment? Who paid, and who benefits? What is the cost to local farmers of the water per megalitre?

[@ceeemm1901]

He's obviously an engineer with a global earthmoving contractor. He gets paid then pisses off to somewhere else. I've worked in the biz and never gave a fat flying f either.....

[@zumamaya2396]

If it's Queensland there will be some grift happening I'm sure

[@cfmotoz8626]

That’s not a dingo, it’s a kelpie! Lol

[@rockbiterhd]

How do you go with your name here in Australia especially after the driving incident

[@reid-qo2sz]

O my .. well .. and has anybody thought maybe this is why the river stopped… it is scary to think what sort of country we are setting up !!!.

[@Leitner2168]

I wished our TV station would bring in their daily news cast clips of such projects instead of the crappy social news content. That also means clipping the content of sport, yes sport.....!!!!!! GRL, Busby 2168

[@jameshodgetts5594]

Surely a few more trees might help draw up the water table to the surface and less evaporation, not just gum trees either time for more real forests and bush land, ❤😊

[@OfficialSamuelC]

Longer form content please! Like Ashville channel. Long content is great when they've visited plants, quarries and so on, like full on Discovery documentaries.

[@Sarge084]

It's Monday, and I'm in the yard!

[@fyiaustralia9686]

I think this will be transferred to foreign investors - so agricultural land is gradually being grabbed by another country.

[@educatingfool216]

The only way to safe water lost from evaporation is to install flouting solar panels.

[@asedcopf]

yea high voltage DC smashing together on water.

[@educatingfool216]

@@asedcopf kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6eoZaN8iqannassi=YN0eyTKVfz2BqRu3

[@mrfloor1845]

You should go back when they start to fill it

[@CoderMonkeyNathan]

seems shallow, the deeper it is the slower the evaporation. Big and shallow mean bye-bye water. They could prob reduce that a little with some kinda shading.

[@w1ckedj3ster-op1fx]

So they selling water ?

[@w1ckedj3ster-op1fx]

Alot of countries have brought rights to our water and sell back to us .. shame . It should be law only to buy water rights if your a primary producer and you can't sell it on ..

[@cottawalla]

They have to buy the water they take from the river from others on the river, as does everybody else. There is a regulated total volume cap on the entire Murray-Darling river system that covers four (of our six) states and one territory, so yes there's a market in place. I guess the pond owners intend to buy when there's enough water for everybody and the price is low then sell when the price is higher. In theory no-one need pay any more than they would without the pond but they will at least have water when they otherwise would not have any at all.

[@simonbrown4142]

That’s a kelpie not a dingo

[@DavidBrand-y3w]

You are right but kelpies were originally bred from dingoes

[@chippab1407]

He was taking the piss mate 👍

[@OfficialSamuelC]

Description is wrong and says May 2024

[@AaronWitt]

Good catch

[@denbo4023]

'Offer it to farmers' - that means sell it - water they stole from the people, they'll sell back to it. Sounds familiar.

[@peterandreazza9817]

Water from the Murrumbidgee river

[@TechGorilla1987]

Curious - is your father named Warren and was he on a program about a failing reservoir in the ozarks? I swear, you both use the same label maker for your hardhats.

[@RealHooksy]

An impressive engineering project and a disastrous environment one imo.

[@kengarrett1116]

So where the hell is this dam?

[@rmar127]

If that was truly a dingo, A: it wouldn’t have been wearing a collar and B: it would have torn you apart.

[@anthonysteele3466]

Kelpy not dingo. Dingo's are not friendly

[@brianward7724]

I hope you got to like manual transmission so much that you bought one - not necessarily a huge truck, though. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, btw. I live in NSW but had absolutely no idea it even existed!

[@barrysylvester3613]

Funny looking Dingo.