Every little drop: the story of the Snowy Scheme

Episode of Series “Big picture”.
In October 1999, a picnic was held at Lake Jindabyne to celebrate 50 years since the Snowy Mountain Scheme first began. The day brought together the workers who survived the huge project, their families and their friends. This program looks at the history of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, both as an engineering wonder (recognised in 1969 by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven engineering marvels of the world) and an epic human saga. It took 25 years to build and employed 100,000 workers from around the world, particularly refugees from war-torn Europe. However it also cost 121 lives in the actual construction of the Snowy Scheme and many more on the construction of the roads. Its primary aim was to collect and channel water inland for irrigation, passing through a series of power stations and generating hydro-electricity whose sale would help finance the project. Today questions are being raised about the ecological damage in relation to salinity and excessive use of water for irrigation. Contains interviews with engineers, surveyors and workers from the Snowy Scheme and includes archival news footage and graphical film of the constructions of tunnels, dams and power stations. Narrated by John Gaden.