Traveston set for High Court
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in Desalination, Environmental Impact Statement, Peter Garrett, QWIPL
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Tony Moore
April 5, 2008
Traveston Dam opponents say they will take their fight to the High Court, but the government company preparing for construction rejects claims Traveston can be replaced by a modern desalination plant.
Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd was set up by the Queensland Government to get the controversial Traveston Crossing Dam project near Gympie ready to be built by 2011.
When it is finished it will be operated by just three people.
Queensland Water Infrastructure says Traveston Crossing Dam can produce drinking water at one-third the energy cost of a desalination plant.
CEO Graeme Newton dismissed claims by Federal Opposition Environment spokesman Greg Hunt this week that the Traveston Crossing dam site was one of the “worst possible” in Australia.
“We are so certain about the engineering on this project,” Mr Newton said.
“We have the best civil engineers working on this project.”
Mr Newton further rejected claims that a desalination plant could at present provide water at an equivalent price to the Traveston Dam.
He said a desalination plant comparable in water yield to Traveston Dam (77,000 ML per annum) would produce water at an energy cost of 6 megawatt hours per megalitre of water.
“Traveston will produce water at a cost of 1.7 megawatt hours per megalitre,” Mr Newton said.
“So the reason this project is a viable option is because it is the cheapest option.
“Traveston will use less energy and it is less in the capital costs.”
The Gold Coast Desalination Plant at Tugun was unable to provide an estimated cost of a megalitre of water per megawatt hour to brisbanetimes.com.au yesterday.
However, last week the Save the Mary River Co-ordination Group said evolving technology would force the price of water from desalination plants to drop.
Spokesman Kevin Ingersole said the Kwinana desalination plant in West Australia could produce drinking water at 3.5 megawatt hours per megalitre of water, cheaper than Tugun’s estimated cost of 6.1 megawatt hours per megalitre of water.
This figure could not be confirmed by the Gold Coast Desalination Plant yesterday.
Mr Ingersole said the residents would never give up their fight.
“We will never, ever give up,” he said.
But Mr Newton said the impact of a sliding scale of water produced by a desalination plant was one reason why the Queensland Water Commission (QWC) delayed bringing the next desalination plant on line in South East Queensland for 20 years.
Mr Newton said dam critics also ignored the “flood mitigation” aspects of the Traveston Dam, which he said would take four metres from the flood peak height in Gympie.
Local farmer David Sim scoffed at the dam’s floodproofing, saying the dam would simply flood the Mary Valley.
“It is going to be five metres deep on average,” Mr Sim said.
“And in this hot summer you would be losing a foot a month in evaporation, let alone seepage.”
However Mr Newton said their statistics showed “net evaporation” which includes seepage, showed Traveston Dam would lose 520mm each year in evaporation, because the coastal air was “moist” and less prone to evaporation.
“Wivenhoe, for example loses about 1.15 metres in a year,” Mr Newton said.
Mr Newton also tried to calm residents concerns that the Kadanga Cemetery would have to be shifted, or that it would be flooded.
Queensland Water Infrastructure plan to build a “grassy verge” on the lower edge of the cemetery which they say will hold back the damwaters, Mr Newton said.
“The road at the bottom of the cemetery will be closed. They will still have access. They will be able to drive in and we will be putting in a few features, like benches and landscaping.”
Mr Newton also rejected claims Environment Minister Peter Garrett did not speak with the Mary River community when he toured the site before Easter.
“He met the Save the Mary River people. He met them in Gympie.”
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Paradise Dam legal action has implications for Traveston
Joint release - QCC, TWS, ACF, STMR, GMA,WWF, WPS Qld, SCEC, WBBCC
Legal action launched today by the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council (WBBCC) against Burnett Water Pty Ltd (a former Queensland Government owned company), the builders of the Paradise dam on the Burnett River, will have implications for the Queensland’s Government’s planned Traveston Crossing Dam.
The impact the Paradise Dam has had on the Queensland Lungfish is at the heart of the civil court case lodged today. Destruction of lungfish habitat is also one of the most controversial aspects of the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam.
Roger Currie, Water Policy Officer Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council (WBBCC), said: “We decided to take this legal action against Burnett Water Pty Ltd because we believe Paradise Dam has failed to meet the conditions of approval imposed under the EPBC Act, to protect Lungfish.”
Glenda Pickersgill, Mary Valley resident and Vice-President of the Save the Mary River Co-ordinating Group, said: “The government’s own figures show south-east Queensland won’t need extra water until 2025 because of the water saving policies and alternatives the Government is establishing. This legal action shows why the Traveston Crossing Dam should never be built.”
Speaking on behalf of a coalition of environment groups, Kate Noble from the Australian Conservation Foundation expressed support for the legal action commenced by WBBCC. “There are better alternatives for securing water supply than dam-dependency, not just because dry dams are risky investments in a drying climate, but also because they generate even more carbon pollution than desalination plants.”
WBBCC is the group that has commenced the legal action. Groups expressing public support for the action include the Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, WWF Australia, Save the Mary River Co-ordinating Group, Sunshine Coast Environment Council, Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, Greater Mary Association, and Queensland Conservation Council.
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BURRUM RIVER FISHERIES UNDER THREAT
“The recent fish kill in the Burrum River would appear to be the direct result of the tardiness of WBW to construct a workable fishway on the No 1 weir, as they agreed to do back in 2001,” said GMA Chairman Darryl Stewart today. “It is reasonable to expect that WBW should have constructed the fishway in conjunction with the approval conditions of raising Lenthalls Dam which has obviously further affected the natural environmental flows of the lower Burrum.”
“With the Burnett and the Burrum already effectively dammed and supplying almost no freshwater flows to Hervey Bay, the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam would be the final nail in the coffin for much of the recreational and commercial fish population of the Bay,” he said. “It is now even more important that WBW move quickly to act on their corporate environmental responsibilities.
“Effective fish passages on water storages is an often forgotten part of the water planning industry and retro fitting of effective Australian designs is a costly project. As well, Sunwater is currently involved in a federal court case for failing to install an effective working fishway on Paradise Dam,” said Roger Currie , WBBCC water policy officer. “Water service providers must meet their conditions of approval for fisheries management as well as other environmental requirements.”
The Great Sandy Marine Park relies on effective fish passage and environmental flows from the Burrum River. “If this is not occurring, the fish stocks of the GSMP will suffer drastically. CSIRO climate change predictions for the Fraser Coast are for reduced seasonal flows, so we need to act now,” said Roger Dwyer from Friends of the Burrum River System Inc.
Recreational fisheries in the GSMP contribute $150M a year to the regional economy, in many ways like accommodation, bait and tackle, fuel, marine services and not forgetting the value of capital items, eg, boats, trailers, chandlery and other supplies, estimated to be worth about $350M annually.
“The regional economy needs effective fish passage and environmental flows, more than it needs a pork barrel waterpark on the foreshore at Pialba. A corporation which claims it has ‘world class green credentials’ should prove it by meeting its conditions of approval for dam building,” said the Secretary of Fraser Coast Sunfish, Martin Bellert.
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