Dam plans are “environmental vandalism”

The debate over the raising of the Wyangala Dam wall continues to rage as the NSW Government promotes its commitment to the delivery of the Final Business Case. The Final Business Case is on track to be submitted for review in the first half of 2023.

Booligal resident Bill Sheaffe describes the move as “an expensive exercise in environmental vandalism.”

“In my time living on the Lachlan River between Hillston and Booligal I have witnessed one significant Ibis rookery being abandoned and several wetlands and lakes that are dry most of the time,” Mr Sheaffe told The Grazier.

“The catchment area for the original dam was approximately 8,300 square kilometres and whilst the capacity of the dam will be increased, the catchment area will remain the same.

“The concerns of people who live on the lower Lachlan, and no doubt the environmental water agencies, is the reduction of water from dam spills should this project go ahead.

“What effect will the reduced inundation have on ground water recharge? What effect will reduce dam spills have on large areas of red gum, black box and lignum swamps, aquatic fauna and flora, bird habitat and breeding events?

“The social, economic and environmental impacts must also be considered. Environmental flows no matter how well managed cannot mimic nature.”

Professor of Environmental Science at the University of NSW Professor Richard Kingsford has been vocal in his concerns over the project.

“The NSW Government has promised a ‘robust business case’ but will it adequately measure the cost to the river and the people, animals and plants that depend on it?” Professor Kingsford asks.

“Who will measure the cost to agriculture of knocking out most of the huge colonies of straw-necked ibis on the Booligal floodplain? These are nature's own locust eaters.

“Or the costs to graziers of reduced flooding on their land. Building large dams is not just an experiment we don’t know the answer to. Graziers across the Murray-Darling Basin are paying the price of large dams, with reductions in their incomes.

“Most floodplains which receive flooding less often and less extensively are on grazing land, not public land. And it is the small and medium floods which will be knocked out. Large dams do not stop the massive floods like the one we are having at the moment. The dams soon fill up and overflow.

“We can only hope that tax payers are able to see the full cost of the enlargement of Wyangala Dam and not just the few benefits for few people that keep being pushed.”

Professor Kingsford and Mr Sheaffe share the concern over the vague cost estimates surrounding the project.

“Cost of construction as far as I am aware is not set in concrete, but the figures being talked about are between 1.2 billion to 2.1 billion dollars, to increase the dam capacity by 53 percent or 650 gigalitres,” Mr Sheaffe said. “I leave it to you to do the maths on the cost of a litre of water.”

Professor Kingsford echoes this alarm over lack of detail.

“Like so much about this project, there are blow outs, like the timing. The estimated cost has also gone from an estimated $650 million to $2.1 billion,” he said.

“Tax payers will pay an astronomical price for this water.”

Meanwhile work on a new $5.1 million Wyangala Water Treatment Plant began in February and is due to be completed in the first half of 2023. It will deliver up to 800,000 litres of clean drinking water every day to the village residents and the popular holiday park.

Carp out of control

Below: Bill Sheaffe has shared a video with The Grazier, highlighting the explosion in numbers of European Carp in the Lachlan River above Booligal.