Entura specialist dams engineer Paul Southcott said he was excited to see the water 200 millimetres above the spillway.

“I’ve always loved the flow of water,” he said.

Mr Southcott said raising the dam wall above one metre, as councillors originally wanted, while keeping it safe, would have been difficult.

“The idea with a concrete arch dam is it spreads the load to either side of the abutments,” he said.

“To go to two metres, the concrete right at the bottom would be overstretched and we get to the limits of the existing dam.”

In July, a subdivision in Clifton Grove raised concerns within Orange City Council about population growth raising the dam’s risk level.

Orange mayor John Davis confirmed the council intended to limit development and did not envision more upgrades.

“It’s a great outcome and you couldn’t ask for any better but there’s challenges if you go higher,” he said.