Lenthalls Dam Gates Failure 2008
2 Comments
Readers of Swampnews and members the TravestonSwamp forum may recall the following comments received from contributor “LenthallsDamWashout”.
Comments on events that happened during Febuary 2008, when high rainfall and moderate flooding of the Burrum River, in the Hervey Bay area, and when the failure of the newly installed Lenthall’s dam flood gates to open both automatically and manually - put unsuspecting lives at risk.
A report (pdf download)- LENTHALLS DAM GATES FAILURE 2008 – A CASE STUDY IN GATE RELIABILITY AND HUMAN FACTORS, FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT RISK MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE, by Damian Carstens, has just been released.
A flyer “No One Wants to be Washed Away” has also been distributed to “at risk” Hervey Bay residents in Howard and Torbanlea.
Dam Gate Failure is a risk for populations downstream. A girl drowned at Blackall from Dam Failure in November 2008!
Lenthalls Dam Gates were inoperable for most of 2008 and at this time may still not operate as designed.
The Emergency Action Plan for Lenthalls Dam identifies 270 people downstream at risk from Flooding, Dam Failure or overtopping. Are these people residents of Howard and Torbanlea?
• Are you one of these people?
• Do you have friends and family living on the Burrum River below Lenthalls Dam?
• Potentially all of these people are at risk
• Has Department of Emergency Services contacted YOU?
• Has the Govt given Innundation Maps to the public so river residents know who is at risk?
The IDSM Website has further information available:
These are “LenthallsDamWashout’s” original comments as posted:-
Hi thankyou for noticing, we feel for the people of Traveston as Lenthalls Dams is finsihed but not operating as designed and we are living your future.
- we are the family thrown out at the opening of Lenthalls Dam on the Burrum River - we were trying to alert the Govt to the fact that the Gates installed at Lenthalls Dam ( Hervey Bay) to mitigate upstream flooding had failed in Feb 08 and that three family members had been almost washed away at the farm house as flood water backed up around the house.
The Govt and local water authority had always told us there was no risk of upstream flooding after the dam was raised. Let me tell you the risks of upstream floodin are real.
Those responsible for the Lenthalls Dam gate failure still have andrew mcnamaras and the state govt support. The Lenthalls Dam gates were completed in Dec 07 and failed in Jan 08 the gates still do not work as designed.
Please see the other ABC article ( the worst is ahead for traveston residents)
Resident fears dam gates risk flooding
Updated Wed May 21, 2008
A land-holder upstream of a major dam south-west of Hervey Bay says multi-million dollar barriers on the storage are broken, putting her family at risk of flooding.
Queensland Deputy Premier Paul Lucas will officially open the $16 million project at Lenthalls Dam, which is designed to more than double the storage’s capacity.
In what is claimed to be an Australian first, the two metre high crest gates sink when the dam reaches capacity to prevent flooding upstream and provide for environmental flows.
But Esther Allan says in February the gates jammed, causing water to back up onto her property.
“This is an extremely expensive piece of infrastructure. Ratepayers paid for this and their expectation would be that it would be operable,” she said.
“If it wasn’t, we need to know why - not only because our family’s safety was put at risk, but because ratepayers expect to get a result from the infrastructure they pay for.”
The local government corporation that runs Lenthalls Dam says the gates do not work, but it was monitoring the rising water.
Wide Bay Water general manager David Wiskar says adjustments were needed during the dam’s commissioning and are continuing.
“The gates were all needing some fine-tuning. At the moment we were able to complete that tuning on three of the gates,” he said.
“There’s two that remain to be done, but we’re waiting until the level in the dam falls to an adequate level to [do] those final two.”August 20, 2008 |LenthallsDamWashOut
Lenthalls Dam Burrum River - our experience of your situation.
We are landowners who were resumed and now face constant flood risk when Lenthalls Dam on the Burrum was raised - when we enquired about providing input to the social impact statement we were told that we had to quantify the social impact in dollar terms.
In the 10 years from 1996 our farm was under threat of the dam raising as government vacilated and redesigned and changed plans we lived with constant stress and uncertaintly - now the dam is complete the TOPS gate infrastructure installed to release upstream flood flow doesnt work. ( we can verify this with letters from state govt) Our farm house can be flooded at any time - the pressure continues long after teh dam is built.
The clever people in state government said unless it had a dollar value they could not include it in the Social Impact Statement
I feel for all of those whose lives are being destroyed or forever changed by Traveston - by all means participate in the SIS but do so with cynicism or you will be disapointed with the governments “nil care factor approach”August 20, 2008 |LenthallsDamWashOut
stevem
Queensland dams overflowing with risk for local residents
Craig Johnstone
October 15, 2009
THE State Government is scurrying to ensure all dams in Queensland that would put populations at risk if they failed have adequate safety in place.
A safety audit has also discovered several dams – three of them in north Queensland – have deficient spillways.
The Government has been unable to keep up with the work required to make safe all of the 99 dams around the state that could pose a danger.
The revelation, tucked inside the Natural Resources and Water Department’s latest annual report, follows revised estimates on how much water the dams would be expected to deal with in extreme rainfall.
The report said while 90 percent of the dams with identified populations at risk had safety conditions in place, “action is continuing” to ensure all the facilities meet safety standards.
However, the department’s regional manager, Andrew Buckley, said one dam had had its safety conditions improved since the report was completed, while another had been modified and no longer posed a danger if it failed.
“All of these dams are currently having safety conditions drafted or implemented and none is in any imminent danger of failing,” he said.
He confirmed Crystal Waters Dam at Redland also had no required safety plans despite the department estimating 10 residents were within its release area.
Several dams elsewhere in the state do not have safety conditions that require updating, including two at central Queensland coal mines Blair Athol and South Walker Creek and three on private farms.
A spokeswoman for BHP Billiton, which co-owns the South Walker mine, said the 1300 megalitre dam’s safety conditions were being updated.
A spokeswoman for Blair Athol mine owner Rio Tinto said the 600 megalitre “environment” dam at the mine site was being managed in “full compliance” with the department’s requirements.
Another dam, at Tallebudgera Creek on the Gold Coast, had safety conditions in place, although they had not been finalised. That dam has about 100 residents in its release area.
The department has also ordered reports on the adequacy of spillways at Cooby Dam and Cressbrook Dam near Toowoomba and Baroon Pocket Dam on the Sunshine Coast as part of an ongoing investigation into dam safety.
Mr Buckley said Crystal Waters Dam did not pose an immediate risk but the department would write to Redland City Council within two weeks saying safety conditions for the dam must be implemented.
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Reader Comments (2)
If Lenthalls Dam Gate failure and Paradise Dam's cracked wall are an indication of how Government and Government Corporations monitor the safety of people's lives, then in my opinion, those responsible for allowing circumstances which have resulted in these incidents occurring, should be charged with negligence in a court of law.