Traveston claim an empty promise
stevem
in Dam Alternatives, Environmental, Freedom of Information
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Greg Roberts
June 07, 2007
ARGUMENTS used by the Beattie Government to support the proposed Traveston Dam have been undermined by the revelation the dam would be just 16 per cent full if it had been built four years ago.
The disclosure contradicts an assurance by Deputy Premier Anna Bligh in March that the controversial $2.7 billion dam, a key plank in the Government’s strategy to drought-proof southeast Queensland, would be “close to full” if it had been built two or three years ago.
Critics of the dam, being built on the Mary River, 150km north of Brisbane, claimed it would be ineffective in a drought of the magnitude of the one in the region in recent years.
Ms Bligh’s claim was undermined by a memorandum written last week by the director-general of her Infrastructure Department, Ken Smith. He said preliminary advice to Ms Bligh at the time was “based on limited information” and that more detailed hydrologic analysis was now available.
Mr Smith, who is Queensland Co-ordinator-General, said that if the dam had been built before 2003, it would have been 16 per cent full in April, based on an extraction rate of 70,000 megalitres a year. This was the same level yesterday of Brisbane’s main water storage, Wivenhoe Dam, despite the rain that has fallen in its catchment area since Tuesday night.
Ms Bligh declined to comment on Mr Smith’s memorandum but said the rainfall records demonstrated that the Traveston site was the best available for a dam.
She said the Traveston catchment area received on average 40 per cent more rain than the Wivenhoe catchment.
Mr Smith’s memorandum was in response to a request for information from an inquiry into the dam being conducted by the Senate rural and regional affairs committee.
The Australian reported in April that rainfall records during southeast Queensland’s dry spell were not taken into account when the Government selected the Traveston site. No records after 1999, at least two years before the drought began, were examined.
In response, Ms Bligh said analysis of water flows by government agency SunWater showed that a dam at the Traveston site would have overflowed every year but one from 1999 to 2006.
The Australian later reported a SunWater memorandum that raised doubts about flow objectives in the Mary River.
Anti-dam campaigner and process engineer Darren Edward said Mr Smith’s advice indicated that recycled and desalinated water - not new dams - provided long-term solutions. “How can you have confidence in the Government’s ability to assess the feasibility of this dam when the minister in charge of water infrastructure can’t tell if it would be almost full or almost empty?”
stevem
7 JUN 2007
Opposition queries Premier’s Traveston Crossing rainfall figures
The Queensland Opposition has tried to take issue with Premier Peter Beattie’s claims about the amount of rain that fell around the proposed Mary River dam, near Gympie.
Mr Beattie yesterday proudly told Parliament that 70 millimetres had been recorded in the catchment area and argued it showed Traveston Crossing was a great place to build a dam.
Some local residents have since disputed his figures and Nationals MP David Gibson also tried to argue the numbers in Parliament today.
“Mr Speaker, I’m alleging the Premier has mislead the Parliament … the Bureau of Meteorology figures show that for the Mary River catchment … there is no 70 mm catchment in any of the areas,” he said.
But the Speaker said it was not within the Parliamentary rules.
The Premier says he stands by the totals he quoted, but the weather bureau says yesterday’s rainfall figure was closer to 30 millimetres.
stevem
Thursday June 7
Farmer fumes over Beattie’s dam comments
A south-east Queensland farmer set to lose his property to the Traveston Crossing Dam says the Queensland Premier’s comments about rain in the Mary River catchment have made his blood boil.
In Parliament yesterday, Peter Beattie said the catchment for the proposed dam had received 70 millimetres of rain and described the area as an ideal place to build a dam.
Kandanga ginger farmer Shane Templeton says there has been good rain in the area, but not as much as the Premier claims.
“Certainly to look at the rivers and creeks there’s no fresh in them at all and the weed that’s stuck in those things it hasn’t moved at all,” he said.
“It’s not like a dam would be being filled at all at the moment.
“I think he needs to go back and really do some research on those numbers that he’s starting to quote.”
Meanwhile, the weather bureau says the good rain that has fallen around the Wide Bay Burnett will not last.
Forecaster Brian Rollstone says more falls around the 20 or 30 millimetre mark have been recorded around the region.
“But its all coming to an end … that’s the trouble.”
“The last of the rain will be today and its weakening and becoming lighter.
“Tonight the rain will be over and then it’ll be back to fine weather.”
stevem
6 Jun 2007
Water Reserves
Mr BEATTIE:
I noticed that there was a report in the Australian today in relation to the Traveston Crossing Dam. The advice selectively quoted in the Australian was information provided to the Senate committee by the Coordinator-General. It says in full—If the Traveston Crossing Dam had been built prior to 2003, it would have filled on two occasions and reached 87 per cent of its capacity in April 2006. The Traveston Crossing Dam would have been at 52 per cent of capacity in October 2006 and approximately 60 per cent early in April this year based on continuous extraction of 70,000 megalitres—that is taking that out. It goes on—
If the dam were in place prior to the commencement of the current drought—that is 2000—it would have delivered 70,000 megalitres per year to SEQWater and the Wivenhoe-Somerset-North Pine Dam system would currently be above 35 per cent.
In other words, the Traveston Crossing Dam would have considerably eased the pressure on south-east Queensland families by providing a massive amount of water. I repeat: If the dam were operational, 35 per cent—
Time expired.
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Reader Comments (1)
The rain on the Coast fills the dam is Anna's boast
The rain on Maleny fills it too says Peter by gee
Perhaps they are both mainly plainly insane