RAIN lashing the south-east has caused Leslie Harrison Dam to overflow again, reigniting debate about whether gates should be refitted on the spillway at Capalaba.
The dam, which accounts for about 25 per cent of Redlands' drinking water supply, hit 119 per cent capacity on Tuesday as the SEQ water grid rose to 60 per cent.
Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson said the state government should invest in dam infrastructure to shore up the region's water supply and create local jobs.
It comes about a year after he called for dam gates to be replaced to stop drinking water escaping down the spillway and into Tingalpa Creek.
Water levels at the dam are the highest they have been since record keeping began in March 2016, and the most since it spilled last February during a rain event which lasted several days.
Gates at Leslie Harrison Dam - originally fitted in the 1980s - came down in 2015 as part of engineering investigations and to improve safety.
They have never been replaced despite calls from residents and the state opposition, who have also been among those pushing for recreation activities like canoeing and fishing.
"The main concern is that half of the dam is going out to sea and often causing havoc along the way," Mr Robinson said.
"The best drought-proofing measure for the future is a whole dam full of water, not half a dam."
Capalaba MP Don Brown said state government authority Seqwater made the decision to bring the gates down.
He said there had been no political interference in the process.
"It is their decision (and) it occurred over two governments, both the Newman and Labor governments," he said.
An Seqwater spokeswoman said about 2300 megalitres of water had travelled down the spillway since the dam started overflowing on Thursday morning.
"The majority of rainfall in the Leslie Harrison Dam catchment has occurred in the past 48 hours (to 10am Tuesday)," she said.
"During that time the catchment has received about 116 mm of rainfall."
Leslie Harrison Dam supplies about 25 per cent of Redlands drinking water, with the North Stradbroke Island Water Treatment Plant accounting for 55 per cent and the remainder coming from the south-east grid.
Seqwater expects the dam to continue spilling for several days despite the Weather Bureau's forecast for improved conditions from Wednesday afternoon.
Questions are being raised in NSW about the management of Warragamba Dam in Sydney's west, which began spilling on Saturday and has caused flooding issues for places like Penrith and Windsor.
The NSW government has been pushing for the dam to have its walls raised to reduce flood risk during significant rain events.
Seqwater estimates it would cost more than $18 million to return Leslie Harrison Dam to its previous water level, as neighbouring properties would need to be bought and the dam wall raised by three metres.
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