[Greens-Media] Snowy River release welcome but profits undermine full benefits

[John Kaye]

Snowy River release welcome but profits undermine full benefits
 
Media release: 10 October 2011
 
While strongly welcoming the release of 84 billion litres of water into the Snowy River below Lake Jindabyne, Greens NSW MP John Kaye said that the environmental benefits could have been far greater if the timing of the flow had been better managed.
 
Dr Kaye, commenting on the peak releases which begin today, said: "The lower Snowy River desperately needs scouring flows to remove the silt built up over the four decades since the completion of Jindabyne Dam.
 
"However, the entire release is being shoehorned into just 19 days, with only four days of build up until flows exceed 4 billion litres of water a day.
 
"This tight schedule is a long way from the pre-scheme behaviour of the river and poses a real risk to downstream wild life.
 
"Platypuses on the lower Snowy River have already dug their breeding burrows in the banks of where experience tells them the river will be. The sudden flows will spell doom for many of the unique animals. Earlier releases would have sent a warning signal.
 
"The combination of tight limits in the Snowy Water licence and the profit-driven corporatised Snowy Hydro have resulted in a less-than-perfect outcome for the downstream environment.
 
"The state and federal owned Hydro makes almost no money out of releases into the Snowy River .
 
"Maximising profits creates an irresistible incentive to divert water to its largest generators on the Murray and Tumut/Murrumbidgee rivers.
 
"While clearly delivering benefits, if the river is to be returned to full health, the timing of the flows will have to be improved for next year's releases.
 
"While this might eat into Snowy Hydro's profits, it is in the long term interests of NSW and Australia to rescue the river.
 
"The Greens will be raising the issue of better management models for the nation's largest hydro-electric scheme in the NSW parliament this week," Dr Kaye said. 
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455 
 
 
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John Kaye
Greens member of the NSW Parliament
phone: (02) 9230 2668
fax: (02) 9230 2586
mobile: 0407 195 455
email: john.kaye at parliament.nsw.gov.au
web: www.johnkaye.org.au
 
mail: Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000