HRD

Bill Johnson, 1^st May 2020

Introduction; water for irrigation, utilities and stock and domestic use

In the Macquarie Valley, tributary flows downstream of Burrendong Dam are considered part of the regulated supply for the purpose of meeting water orders or other commitments. If the tributaries are flowing their water is used, where possible, to meet demands that would otherwise be met from the regulated supply in Burrendong Dam.

A former water department regional manager in Dubbo once explained that it helped to think of a ‘notional dam near Narromine.’ From the position of maximising regulation and extractive use this makes sense. But it is a legacy of a time when other values of water were not considered.

Role of the re-regulating storage

The Macquarie River Re-regulating Storage (MRRS) Scoping Report[1] states that;

The new re-regulating storage will improve water security, reliability and delivery efficiency in the Macquarie River valley. The re-regulating storage will be located downstream of Burrendong Dam, between the townships of Narromine and Warren (p 6).

WaterNSW and the consultants have said that the new storage will not regulate tributary flows.

The MRRS Scoping Report says otherwise. Section 2.1.1 points out that, under the current plan, some tributary flows will be regulated (my highlighting).

The proposed re-regulating storage would function as a storage that is capable of capturing surplus flow events and regulating them, as required, to reduce operational losses. The intent of the storage is to capture operational releases from Burrendong Dam that are surplus to operational need and to store them temporarily until required to supply subsequent water orders. Releases identified as surplus within approximately 6 days’ travel time from Burrendong Dam may potentially be captured.

The source of operational surplus flows released from Burrendong Dam can include the following:

• Customer orders that are subsequently cancelled due to, for example, rainfall events occurring which negate the need for irrigation
• Orders subsequently met by useful tributary contributory inflows
• Releases in excess of those required to cover delivery losses (p 16).

This section cannot be interpreted in any way other than that tributary flows will be regulated by the new storage.

My summary of the Report is;

The purpose and operation of the storage will be to capture operational releases from Burrendong Dam and store them to meet orders. These releases include tributary flows downstream of the dam.

Statements that downstream tributary flows will not be regulated by the new storage are only true because they are considered by WaterNSW to be releases from Burrendong Dam.

A reasonable person would not call tributary flows into the Macquarie, downstream of Burrendong Dam, releases from Burrendong Dam. Flows from the Talbragar, Bell and Little Rivers, Coolbaggie Creek, and other smaller streams that join the Macquarie downstream of the dam do not come from the dam.

A reasonable person would be astonished by this notion. That the notion exists, and is the published position of the NSW Government, would be met with disbelief.

Operation of the weir

The term useful tributary flows, meaning those that can be used to meet orders, demonstrates the NSW Government’s priorities. There is no stated limit to the amount of water to be regulated from the tributaries. Flows will be regarded as useful, and will be regulated, if they can be used to meet orders.

The capacity to hold these flows in the new storage means that more flows will fit the category of useful, and more water will be regulated and extracted. It allows a blank cheque for regulation and extraction of tributary flows.

It is naïve to think that WaterNSW will not use the storage to regulate as much of the tributary flows as possible. It will be managed to maximise the amount of water extracted. The more water it can control the better the narrow financial argument for it will be.

It is likely that tributary flows will be deemed useful, and available for regulation by the storage, if they can be used to;

• meet irrigation orders rather than using releases from Burrendong Dam,
• restore flows to regulated sections of the river and creeks downstream of the weir,
• provide regulated stock and domestic supplies,
• provide stock and domestic supplies from unregulated flows.

Conclusion

In 1987 the NSW Government published a Regional Environmental Plan for the Macquarie Marshes that said;

The Audit found the WRC [Water Resources Commission] was ineffective in management of the State’s water resources, having difficulty in moving beyond its former role of rural supply authority. Broad water needs of the whole community, including the needs of the natural environment, were residual considerations to irrigation development and operations…The new Department of Water will be required to address cultural, scientific and aesthetic values as legitimate community needs in terms of water management.[2]

Water is mentioned in terms of losses and surplus more than 60 times in the MRSS Scoping Report. The proposal by WaterNSW to build a new storage on the Macquarie River, and the language it uses, show that the perspectives and objectives of the NSW water agencies have not changed since the 1980s.

Government failure to address the broad water needs of the whole community has long been a serious problem. Community dissatisfaction with water management in NSW was a major factor in the National Party’s loss of the seat of Barwon to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party. It is a lesson that hasn’t been learnt.

[1] Water NSW. 2020. Macquarie Re-regulating Storage; Scoping Report. NSW Government, Sydney.

[2] Department of Environment and Planning. 1987. Regional Environmental Plan for the Macquarie Marshes, Department’s Minute: 17 November 1987. NSW Government, Sydney.

9/6/2020

The building of a re-regulating storage on the Macquarie River, as a proposed action has been referred to the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment for assessment against Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) (EPBC Act referral 2020/8652).

Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES)

• First, the referral acknowledges that the proposed action is likely to have a direct or indirect impact on the ecological character of the Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes, but concludes that this impact is not significant. This is clearly wrong and contradicts the overwhelming scientific evidence for the management of the health of the Macquarie Marshes and scientific understanding of river flow and inundation regimes, the listed advice on the management of the ecological character of the Marshes as a Ramsar site, as well as the evidence presented in this submission.
• Second, the referral acknowledges that the proposed action is likely to have a direct or indirect impact on nationally listed threatened species or their habitats or any threatened ecological community, concluding that this impact is significant. This submission supports this conclusion, based on the scientific evidence but points out the inadequacy of the proponent’s preliminary assessment in relation to the level of impact.
• Third, the referral acknowledges that the proposed action is likely to have a direct or indirect impact on listed migratory species or their habitats but then concludes that this impact is unlikely to be significant. This is clearly wrong and contradicts the overwhelming scientific evidence for the management of the health of the Macquarie Marshes and scientific understanding of river flow and inundation regimes, the listed advice on the management of the ecological character of the Marshes as a Ramsar site, as well as the evidence presented in this submission.

See the full submission below in PDF form.

Dubbo’s Marie Ryan takes issue with suggestions by Narromine Mayor Craig Davies that the Macquarie Marshes could be receiving water that in his opinion, they aren’t ‘entitled’ to. 

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Healthy Rivers Dubbo convenor Mel Gray speaks to Rod Corfe on Bourke’s 2WEB Outback Radio

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Dubbo Day Award recipient David ‘Harro’ Harris is amazed at how few people know about the proposal to dam the Macquaire, and how much misinformation is getting around about the height of the structure.

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Western Paddlers NSW are concerned about the loss of natural flows in the Wambuul Macquarie and the internationally recognised Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes.

A new dam is being planned on the Wambuul Macquarie River, 200 metres downstream of the current weir at Gin Gin, between Narromine and Warren.

John Laws became interested in the project after Mel from Healthy Rivers Dubbo called him on Monday 20/7/20 to have a chat about it.

Dugald Saunders, member for Dubbo got on the next day and announced that the new dam would only be 1 metre higher than the the current weir at Gin Gin.

The current weir at Gin Gin is now about 4 to 5 metres high. It was a lot higher once, about 10 metres or so, before floodwaters had their way and trimmed it down.

From the start, plans for the new dam are for a 14 metre high structure, with 10 metre high gates, capable of holding back 9,000 Megalitres of water.

WaterNSW have been saying that they will reduce the size of the structure following concerns raised by stakeholders about the significant impact the project would have on Native Fish and the Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes downstream. They have talked about a structure with 3 stages of 5 metre high gates, capable of holding back 6,000 Megalitres.

However, in the official document (bottom of the first page) signed by WaterNSW on the 28th May 2020 that will inform the environmental impact statement, the project is described such:

Mel understood that while WaterNSW were saying they would reduce the height of the gates, the official documentation had not changed, so called John Laws back with serious concerns that the Member for Dubbo didn’t understand the scale of the project.

To finalise the question about the height of the new dam, Dugald wrote to John Laws and on Thursday 23/7 the following was read out on air..

The key sentence is “the full supply level of the new structure will be approximately one metre higher than the storage at Gin Gin weir prior to it’s failure.”

Prior to it’s failure the weir was about 10 metres high or so.

In a round about political-speak way, Dugald Saunders has confirmed that as Mel and the official documents referenced above said, the new dam will have gates 10 metres high (while at the same time he appears to win the debate like any good politician would).

WaterNSW cannot be trusted.

For reference, 14 metres is almost as high as a 5 story building.

 

Since 2014, WaterNSW have had a protocol in the Macquarie-Cudgegong Valley where if a water ordering customer has a history of cancelling water orders after they’ve been released from the dam, their water account can be debited by the volume of water they order, not the volume they pump.

To date, this protocol hasn’t been applied, rather water customers who habitually order more water than they need are only debited the volume of water they pump.

The capture of rainfall rejection orders is the main reason being put forward for the construction of the enormous in channel dam at Gin Gin.

Why should the public be asked to foot the large bill of over $30 million for a massive gated structure that will dam the river for 30 km, destroying Red Gums and making the river uninhabitable for native fish? 

This dam would withhold water from the internationally recognised Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes, put the town of Warren at higher risk of running out of water, deny natural tributary inflows to the creeks and the Lower Macquarie and make connection between the Macquarie and Barwon Rivers even harder to achieve.

If water customers have a habit of ordering more water than they extract, then why doesn’t WaterNSW use the protocol and debit their accounts?

Water Order Debiting Macquarie Cudgegong

** Impacts to the Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes and migratory birds to be recognised as significant in Environmental Impact Statement! **

Public comment was recently invited on the EPBC Act referral for the Macquarie River re-regulating weir – which is a proposal to build another dam on the Macquarie River upstream from the Ramsar listed Macquarie Marshes.

This document will inform the Environmental Impact Statement for the project. WaterNSW prepared the referral, for the consideration of the federal environment department. In their proposal, WaterNSW considered that the impact of the new dam on the Macquarie Marshes and on migratory birds would not be significant.

Many of you prepared submissions, and disagreed with WaterNSW, instead identifying many ways that the dam would in fact have very significant impacts on the wetlands and the migratory birds that rely on them.

** YOU WERE HEARD! **

The environmental impact statement will now look closely at the significant impact the dam would have on the Macquarie Marshes and migratory birds.

Approved Referral

An alternative to the dam proposal was presented in the referral, that the current Gin Gin weir be replaced where it is – without the capability of creating a new dam. Any new structure would also have to incorporate a fishway. This would be a great outcome for the Wambuul Macquarie River!

 

The referral 2020-8652 – referral_Final produced by WaterNSW identified a lot of significant impacts that the dam is expected to have. Here’s a quick summary:

• Reduced inflows into the Macquarie Marshes – small flows in dry years are critical to the Marshes.
• 30km of river banks vegetation would be drowned.
• Loss of habitat types such as riffle zones due to flooding and decreased water quality.
• Loss of aquatic and river bank habitat for 30km.
• Loss of snag habitat and spawning sites for vulnerable Murray Cod.
• Native fish eggs would sink in the still water and die on the bottom of the river.
• Fish in the area would have limited movement, even with the fishway, which is not enough to counteract the loss of habitat.
• Loss of flowing river habitat.
• The river banks will degrade and erode, land most likely will have to be lined with rocks for 30km – creating a sterile lifeless in channel dam.
• Impacts to the groundwater recharge and groundwater dependent ecosystems.
• Threats to native fish listed under the Fisheries Management Act – Eel-tailed catfish, Olive Perchlet Southern Spotted Purple Gudgeon, Silver Perch, Trout Cod as well as Murray Cod.
• A registered Aboriginal heritage site will be inundated by the resulting weir pool.