It will be more interesting when the plan sees the light of day. When the Coalition makes it into Govt they will find entrenched water bureaucrats wedded too much to “Wentworth Group” ideas that would naturally oppose the vast majority of projects in this report. There has grown in Australia an influential group of interests in favour of more expensive water.
We are certainly paying in our water bills for the last 25 years or so when Green Anti-Dam dogmas have had too much influence. Anti-Dam sentiment allied with arm-waving arguments exaggerating the 2002-2009 drought have contributed to several uneconomic seawater desalination plants being constructed. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane desal projects are costing us multi-tens of $Billions and stand as huge “white elephants”.
Some things the Coalition could do without building a single dam.
First review all environmental flow specifications with a view to cutting them back. How crazy that the Thomson Dam for example has 35% of inflows wasted to the sea. Should add that on 5 Feb 2012 I posted – Possible Kimberley region nation building dam projects
Never used plans going back half a century.
“Water” plan “Leaked! I like it!
“Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane desal projects are costing us multi-tens of $Billions and stand as huge “white elephants”.”
As well as Adelaide. The desal plant here was mothballed.
Spot on Warwick, the hippopotamus in the pool is “environmental flows”.
John Hodgkinson has an interesting discussion with respect to the Wivenhoe Dam. According to Hodgkinson, by law “66% of all water in the Brisbane River system had to reach the Mouth of that River.”
The quantity of water is based on “mean average flows” (MAF) over a 111 year period. When originally calculated it used the period 1890-2000 which included the 2 big floods of 1893. If one uses the period 1900-2010 as the basis for calculating the MAF, Hodgkinson claims the current level of environmental flows are 75%!!!
Crazy!
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Some more low hanging fruit that could be suggested to the Coalition before they go all big spending.
Manage Perth dam catchments so the catchment efficiency is 5 or 6% again. megabucks advantages there.
Open the pipeline from the Shoalhaven to Warragamba more – keep Warragamba at a higher level. NSW Labor turned that off in hope Warragamba would stay under 80% so they could commission Kurnell desal.
Sabotaging our hard-won water supplies.
Maybe Barnett’s canal (in reality a bloody big pipe) will get built after all.
The Argyle Dam contains 10 times more water than all the rest of the dams in WA combined. And the state’s biggest river the Fitzroy isn’t dammed at all.
Of course, the Greens will hate the idea and the media will savage it. What the Liberals need to do is dress it up in greenery. Wind and solar powered pumps, for example.
In situ coal gasification is taking off in Europe, because it’s been sold as a vehicle for carbon capture. So, sell it as a way of closing those fossil fuel guzzling desal plants.
It’s crazy that a country that has vast water resources in some places and is in semi-permanent drought in other places doesn’t move this water to where it’s needed.
While the Greens and Labour want to waste 4000GL PA to the sea – we have an Adelaide academic complaining that the Coorong is too fresh.
Ecologist David Paton fears fresh water inflow is harming Coorong wetlands
Just abolish the MDB Commission and their mad environmental flows. Adminster the water through local boards with irrigator input. Simple.
Jen Marohasy has commentary too.