The Serpentine Dam was one of the component dams involved in the flooding of Lake Pedder

Lake Pedder

Lake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...

 in South West Tasmania

South West Tasmania

South West Tasmania is a region in Tasmania that has evolved over the fifty years between its consideration as a potential resource for development to its consideration as World Heritage wilderness...

, it is located on the Serpentine River, Tasmania

Serpentine River, Tasmania

Serpentine River is a tributary river in South West Tasmania of the Gordon River and linked in with the damming Lake Pedder.It was dammed at the Serpentine Dam, Tasmania-References:...

. The dam is a 38 m (125 ft) high rockfill

Embankment dam

An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 dam.

The building of this dam caused to loss of one of the significant sub-populations of the endangered Centrolepis peddernsis, while the nearby Gordon Dam

Gordon Dam

The Gordon Dam , is a double curvature arch dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia. The dam has a length of , and a height of , making it the tallest dam in Tasmania and the fifth-tallest in Australia....

 caused the loss of another. It is now only known to exist in one location on the Frankland Range

Frankland Range

The Frankland Range is a mountain range in South West Tasmania, Australia. It is a less popular site of bushwalking than other, more famous, ranges in Tasmania's South West, and is for much more advanced walkers due to its length, isolation and terrain....

. One subpopulation existed along the Serpentine River and is now inundated as a direct cause of the creation of this dam.

This non-hydroelectric dam, along with Edgar Dam

Edgar Dam

The Edgar Dam was one of the component dams in the flooding of Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania, Australia. It was named after Lake Edgar. The dam was constructed by Hydro Tasmania as part of the Gordon River Power Development Scheme....

 and the Scotts Peak Dam

Scotts Peak Dam

The Scotts Peak Dam was one of the three component dams in the flooding of the original Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania, Australia. Completed in 1973, the dam is high, long, spanning across the upper reaches of the Huon River....

, helps retain water in the Lake Pedder, which then flows to Lake Gordon

Lake Gordon

Lake Gordon is a reservoir created by the Gordon Dam on the upper reaches of the Gordon River in south-west Tasmania, Australia. The reservoir was formed in the early 1970s as a result of the dam construction by the HEC...

 via the McPartlans Pass Canal at 42°50′51"S 146°11′45"E. Water from Lake Gordon then exits through the Gordon Dam

Gordon Dam

The Gordon Dam , is a double curvature arch dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia. The dam has a length of , and a height of , making it the tallest dam in Tasmania and the fifth-tallest in Australia....

.