[Greens-Media] Study pushes ineffective and expensive flood option

[John Kaye]

Study pushes ineffective and expensive flood option

Media release: 12 March 2014

Spending up to $1 billion raising the Warragamba dam wall is an expensive and environmentally damaging option that will not protect homes in the Hawkesbury-Nepean flood plain, according to Greens NSW MP John Kaye.

('Backlash over review of $1b Warragamba flood protection', Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 2014, page 8, http://j.mp/smh140312Wgba)

A study led by the NSW Office of Water (http://j.mp/HkyCtchRM) recommended further study of their preferred option of raising the crest by 15 or 23 metres to protect 20,000 homes from the risk of inundation.

Dr Kaye said: "The study report admits that raising the crest at Warragamba would have 'limited impact in the total number of people that will need to be evacuated in extreme flood events.'

"Spending $1 billion in order to achieve only a small reduction in the impacts of flooding events that might not happen for the next 5,000 years makes very little sense.

"The environmental price is also massive. Up-stream areas, including the Blue Mountains World Heritage land, would be regularly inundated.

"The proposal is an expensive and ineffective insurance policy against an event that is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future.

"This is risk management gone off the rails.

"There are much more cost-effective options that don't require sacrificing national park lands.

"These include establishing a contributory scheme for insuring the at-risk homes against severe but infrequent events and selectively purchasing properties that are in the front line of flooding.

"The report does suggest a number of very useful measures to enhance the protection of human life and ensure that evacuation can safely occur.

"Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson should instruct the Office of Water to ditch the proposal to raise the dam crest and instead concentrate on the options that are cheaper, less damaging to the environment and more likely to protect human safety and minimise long term economic impacts," Dr Kaye said.

For more information: John Kaye 0407 185 455


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John Kaye
Greens NSW MP

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