Lake Eppalock

Lake Eppalock is a vast reservoir located in North Central Victoria, Australia.

It was created through the construction of an earth and rock-fill embankment dam, called Eppalock Dam, with a controlled chute spillway that runs through the Campaspe and the Coliban rivers. The dam is 45 metres high and 1,041 metres long, holding back 304,651 megalitres of water at full capacity. The lake has a catchment area of 2,124 square kilometres and is capable of discharging 8,040 cubic metres of water per second.

Lake Eppalock serves as a water supply for the Campaspe irrigation district, Bendigo, Heathcote, and Ballarat. It suffered from a persistent drought between 2002 and 2010, affecting its recreational activities. The lake offers various water-based activities, including boating, water skiing, sailing, canoeing, swimming, and fishing. During the drought, the reduced water levels limited recreational activities. Camping is limited to private lands surrounding the lake, requiring visitors to obtain permits from landowners.

Lake Eppalock is administered by Goulburn-Murray Water. It has a speed restriction of 5 knots when water levels fall below 16 percent or 180 metres AHD. Despite being built between 1961 and 1964, it remains the only water storage on the Campaspe River system, with no additional large-scale dams. As of August 2015, the lake's capacity had dropped from 74% in the previous year to just 44%.