Residents given more time to consider The Gong dam plans in Buninyong

In November, the City of Ballarat announced that the structure on the western edge of the waters would need to be reinforced.

A council officer described the leaking dam as a "major risk", with 211 residents potentially threatened if the structure weakened further.

The issue of the water seeping through the dam wall has been reported by the Friends of Buninyong Botanic Gardens (FBBG) in recent annual reports.

In a press release, Ballarat city council said the works were planned following an engineering assessment earlier in the year.

It said that strengthening and stabilising works were required to keep the wall strong in the long term.

In annual reports, FBBG has also said they would like to work on a detailed masterplan outlining the future of the gardens.

The Courier understands the group requested an extension to the consultation to allow more detailed discussion of the works and how they fitted in to the gardens as a whole.

Cornish Street runs over the structure of the dam, which acts as a divide between informal gardens around The Gong to the more manicured layout of the lower gardens.

Proposed works include the construction of a filter layer, raising the western wall by 500mm, and the building of a rock embankment.

The Gong has been a feature of the Buninyong landscape since the mid 19th century.

It evolved from mineral springs to become a reservoir, and was originally constructed to supply a brewery in 1850 before becoming a water source for the town as a whole.

The works are expected to take place in 2020.

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