Farmers, Politicians, Scientists Call to End Major Dam Projects in NSW

Wyangala Dam, near full capacity, 2012 (Creative Commons)

Farmers, politicians, and scientists from top Australian universities are urging the government to abandon major dam projects in New South Wales (NSW), citing serious environmental and economic impacts.

Professor Jamie Pittock from Australian National University (ANU) told The Lachlan Conference on Wednesday that the dam proposals, which include the expansion of the Wyangala dam near Cowra and the construction of the Dungowan dam near Tamworth, are wasting taxpayers’ money.

“The proposal to raise Wyangala Dam is an exemplar of why these dam-building projects are crazy; it was proposed without a business case,” Pittock, who teaches at Fenner School of Environment and Society and specializes in water policy, told AAP.

“There are better ways at reducing flood risk and better ways for securing water for agriculture.”

Joining the professor are farmers from central western NSW, warning of the agricultural consequences the expansion will have on the Lachlan River.

“The environmental impact of this project will be disastrous and irreversible in our area, with hundreds of river red gums in the inundation zone that are hundreds of years old that will be waterlogged,” said Cowra beef and cropping farmer Kerri Webster, whose most productive farmland will be compulsorily acquired under the proposal.

“We get frustrated, angry, we’re very emotional ... we’re completely perplexed,” she told the conference on Tuesday, saying that her family had not been consulted.

Dams Good for Flood Management

Mary Ewing, the head of the Lachlan Valley water group, which advocated for the expansion, promised at the conference that all business cases must be thorough.

“We know the business case must be done. The environmental impact assessment must be done,” she said.

Forbes farmer Tom Green, Chair of the Lachlan Valley water group, said raising the dam wall is beneficial, according to early studies.

“We believe the project has shown it will be highly effective for both flood management and water security,” he told AAP.

Echoing Green are mayors from Forbes, Cowra, and Lachlan Shires.

“To those people that say raising the wall and inundating some land up in the dam catchment is an environmental problem, let them come see what a flood does,” Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller said.

Map of Dungowan Dam. (NSW Government)

It comes at a time when Finance Minister Damien Tudehope, the leader of the Government in the Upper House, was censured for failing to produce business cases for the two dam projects.

Meanwhile, Mark Rodda, the Deputy Mayor of Tamworth, previously doubted the costs of Dungowan Dam, which had already reached $1.28 billion, a triple of the initial budget of $480 million.

“It would probably be cheaper for the people of Tamworth to have showers with bottled water than to purchase water from that new dam,” he told Guardian.

An environmental impact statement for the Wyangala dam project is expected to be released after August, while the first phase of work on the Dungowan Dam pipeline has already begun.

AAP contributed to this report.