Lake Paluma is a drinking water storage facility owned by NQ Water and is situated close to Mount Spec, high above the Paluma Range National Park

Paluma Range National Park

Paluma Range is a national park located between Ingham and Townsville, in north Queensland, Australia. The park is 1188 km north of Brisbane. The park contains the Jourama Falls, Crystal Creek and Lake Paluma...

. Lake Paluma has a capacity of 11,800 megalitres.

The dam is part of a unique water supply system that gravity feeds up to 50 megalitres of water per day to the city of Townsville. For most of the year water flowing from the Mount Spec part of the national park is collected and filtered at the Crystal Creek intake and then piped under gravity to Townsville. When Crystal Creek water levels are low, water is released into the creek from Lake Paluma via another gravity pipeline.

Lake Paluma is nestled among World Heritage listed, wet tropics rainforest. The lake is open for a range of nature based recreational activities such as canoeing, sailing and swimming. Lake Paluma is only accessible via a 12 km gravel road just past the township of Paluma. Visitor facilities include picnic shelters and barbecues and bookings are essential. The area is home to the Platypus

Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...

, Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...

, Eastern Water Dragon and a range of rainforest fauna.