-NSW Government is putting politics ahead of people’s lives-
Hawkesbury, NSW, 30 August 2022 – Hawkesbury Community Alliance strongly condemns the NSW Government’s inaccurate portrayal of the impacts of lowering Warragamba Dam by 12 metres ahead of the next forecast floods in Spring, as first published in The Daily Telegraph on 29 August.
To claim to lower the dam by 12 metres would “crumble the State’s water network and push us into water restrictions sooner” is deliberate misinformation and only tells half the story. The NSW Minister for Water, Kevin Anderson, failed to mention the Greater Sydney Water Strategy (GSWS) recommendations for using desalination and using recycled water for greater drought resilience.
His claim that a new desalination plant would cost $14bn is also false. The cost for a new desalination plant to manage the 80gl/year is estimated at $1-2bn (see page 82 Greater Sydney Water Strategy). A single desalination plant would be required to make up the shortfall, not two plants, as quoted by the Minister to The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
The Greater Sydney Water strategy strongly recommends that NSW should rely more on rainfall-independent water sources for long-term drought resilience. The NSW Government is steadfastly refusing to consider those recommendations in favour of pushing its political agenda to raise the dam wall.
- The current desalination plant already has the capability to double its capacity, which can be achieved relatively quickly.
- In the last three floods, had the Government released water from the dam earlier, NSW would have recouped the water through rainfall alone. The water could be recouped with accurate long-range forecasts and responsible dam management.
- A new desalination plant would only cost $1-2bn and could also be built in a much faster time-frame than the dam wall, which is a decade away. The next flood predictions are in a matter of weeks.
- The Minister failed to mention the Greater Sydney Water Strategy (GSWS) recommendation to consider recycled water, which some parts of Sydney are already drinking.
- To date, the cost to the Government (from the last three floods) for flood repairs and recovery grants to the community is estimated to be in the region of $6-8 billion (source :2022 NSW Upper House Flood Inquiry). Is the Government prepared to keep paying that kind of money for each subsequent flood rather than mitigate now?
- Minister Anderson failed to mention that the dam level would need to be lowered for the duration of the construction process to raise the dam wall anyway, leaving Sydney with reduced drinking water supply – presumably they would need to consider some of the alternative rainfall independent sources recommended in the report they commissioned if that were the case?
Hawkesbury Community Alliance is deeply saddened the NSW Government is playing with people’s lives by not sharing all the recommendations of the Greater Sydney Water Strategy (GSWS) to the media. It is deliberately sharing inaccurate and incomplete information with the people of NSW. With a forecast third La Nina and Indian Ocean Dipole weather system, the Hawkesbury Nepean communities don’t have time to waste watching the NSW Government cherry-pick half statements to make cheap political shots at the opposition.
To be very clear, the community is not asking for the dam level to be lowered permanently. With the accuracy of long-range forecasting, we would expect the dam to be allowed to refill when weather predictions swing back towards an El Nino event.
Our homes and lives depend on the Government putting its political and development agenda aside and fulfilling its duty of care to the residents of Western Sydney by lowering the Full Supply Level of the dam by 12 metres urgently.
Almost 300 angry and anxious flood-affected Hawkesbury Residents converged on the Hawkesbury Race Club in Clarendon on 20 August to understand what urgent flood mitigation options might be possible if the NSW Government changed the legislation to allow Warragamba Dam to be used for flood mitigation as well as water supply.
The community and State, Federal and Local politicians, heard from UNSW’s Dr Stuart Khan, a Professor in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Director Australian Graduate School of Engineering (AGSE). He is widely considered one of the leading experts in water management and was able to discuss all the aspects of lowering the Full Supply Level (FSL) of Warragamba Dam.
At that forum, Professor Khan told the community: “Reducing the current water storage in Warragamba Dam is a realistic alternative to raising the dam wall. While no solution provides complete protection from flooding, maintaining lower water storage in Warragamba can significantly mitigate many floods, reducing peak flood heights and enabling additional evacuation time”.
Professor Khan also advised that reduced storage in Warragamba Dam would decrease Sydney’s drinking water supply and would only be viable if alternative sources immediately replaced the drinking water supply.
“Any reduction in reliance on Warragamba Dam must be accompanied by the introduction of new rainfall-independent water sources, such as new seawater desalination or water recycling. In addition to enabling flood mitigation at Warragamba Dam, new rainfall-independent water sources will provide significantly enhanced drought resilience for Sydney,” he said at the meeting.
Hawkesbury Community Alliance renews its open invitation to members of the Government including the Minister for Water, Kevin Anderson to tour the flood affected region. To date, neither Premier Perrottet or Minister Anderson have taken the time to speak the community or responded to invitations to meet.
