Paradise Dam
The Politics and fast-tracking of Paradise Dam: A Synopsis
Darren E
The Water Resource Planning process for the Burnett clearly showed that the additional allocation of water from the river will result in environmental flow targets not being achieved. Nearly all the water made available from the proposed dam will go specifically to sugarcane farmers in Bundaberg. This will occur to the detriment of water users in the central to upper Burnett River catchment. Failing to ensure environmental flows renders the dam unsustainable and thereby, in QCC’S opinion, contravenes the Water Act 2000 (QId) and Queensland’s commitments under the Water Resource Policy of the Council of Australian Governments Agreement (CoAG) 1994. The QCC contends that the Water Resource Plan for the Burnett fails to conform to the definition of ‘sustainable management’ as defined under the Water Act 2000 (s10).
Dambusters call for release of Paradise Dam enviro studies
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Save the Mary co-ordinating group environmental officer Glenda Pickersgill said Ms Bligh had talked up the environmental benefits of programs implemented at the Paradise Dam on the Burnett River in Queensland, the model for a similar dam on the Mary River near Gympie. “Ms Bligh cites the successes shown in major unnamed scientific studies into turtles, the mapping of riparian vegetation, sediment and nutrient modelling, conservation values and lungfish and fish passage,” she said.
Final Report: Operation of Ned Churchward Wier between 1998-2005 EPA
“While the spawning habitat requirements of lungfish have been established (Brooks & Kind 2001) , the reasons behind complete failure of macrophytes to establish and provide habitat within the weir have not been addressed. As a priority the operating requirements to establish these beds needs to be agreed by Sun water with macrophytes experts. Until appropriate spawning habitat can be established in the weir and suitable stable water levels are maintained during spawning, incubation and hatching, lungfish populations in the weir will either fail to reproduce or will need to travel to suitable spawning habitats in unexpended waters”
Little rivers dammed by damming
Little river systems can die due to the affect of damming according to Professor Jean Joss of Macquarie Univeristy following the massive fish kill at Mingo. “It’s not surprising there’s been a fish kill, it’s totally inappropriate to have big dams on fragile little river sytems, lets hope the same mistake won’t be made on the Mary,” she said. Her comment followed the disvcovery of 1000’s of dead fish several weeks ago by landholders in the Mingo area.
A study into the export of saline water from Hervey Bay, Australia
The Australian estuaries and shelf seas are significantly impacted by high year-to-year rainfall variability, a dry climate in comparison to that of other continents, and the fact that about 80 % of Australia’s population resides in coastal regions and uses estuaries and their catchments for commercial (e.g. farming, fishing, aquaculture, coastal development) and non-commercial (e.g. recreation, tourism) purposes. In dry climates or during drought conditions, estuaries and larger coastal embayments are often characterised by a negative circulation, with inflow at the surface and outflow of high salinity water at the bottom.
“In addition to these pragmatic goals, the powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations.”-Prof. Carroll Quigley (Tragedy & Hope)