In July 2003, cotton farmers who were reliant on the dam for irrigation had their water allocation cut by 75%. In November 2006, the dam had reached its lowest level ever—just 14% of total capacity. for the first time in 17 years, due to heavy local rain. Within 48 hours, the water level was about over the spillway level, or 156% of active capacity. The water level peaked at about on 22 January 2008. Downstream 2,700 residents had to be evacuated due to flooding. Seven days earlier, the lake was operating at 29% of full capacity. On 30 December 2010 during the
2010–11 Queensland floods, the Fairbairn Dam reached a peak of , or 176% of active capacity, with a reservoir elevation of . Water was recorded at above the spillway. Dam capacities in Australia are frequently compared with the capacity of
Sydney Harbour which holds approximately . This would make the dam approximately 3 times the storage of Sydney Harbour in normal conditions and 4 times in extreme flood. On 29 December 2019 the Fairbairn Dam was at 9.6% capacity, the previous record low capacity was in December 2006 at 11.8%. In December 2019 the Central Highlands Regional Council made the decision to stay on level 1 water restrictions whilst they were undertaking a review of their trigger levels for water restrictions. A record low of 7.39% was reached in 2020. In late 2022, the dam reached 40% of capacity, allowing farmers to access full water allocations. ==Fishing==