My emails asking for an audit are in comments.
My Table below from 15 Sep – of catchment stations with 2016 rain totals updated through August shows that the Mundaring Weir/Dam, Victoria Dam, Churchmans Brook, Serpentine Main Dam and Wungong Dam rain data all show many examples of disparate monthly totals that require an audit.
Kafka is alive and well in Perth.
Take paragraph 2, are they referring to this “Overview” page which refs Perth rain which we all know is little relevant to dams rain.
www.watercorporation.com.au/water-supply-and-services/rainfall-and-dams/rainfall
Then paragraph 3 starts with the stunning revelation that rainfall to fill dams is secondary in their minds to rainfall possibly destroying dams. Then I assume they are referring to this “Rainfall at Perth Dams” www page
www.watercorporation.com.au/water-supply-and-services/rainfall-and-dams/rainfall/rainfall-at-perth-dams
Which does state that their own “Dam Rangers collect dam rainfall readings”.
Paragraph 4 is worthy of careful reading, it could mean they might opt out of presenting some of their rain data.
The whole letter just supports your call for an audit.
Agree Kafka is not overstating it.
I have been sent these two articles –
“Carpenter Govt urged to legislate on dam safety” 20 July 2007
www.abc.net.au/news/2007-07-20/carpenter-govt-urged-to-legislate-on-dam-safety/2507958
The Economic Safety Authority has called on the Western Australian Government to introduce legislation that would prevent the need for excessive spending on dam safety.
The Water Corporation says it has to spend $335 million on upgrading WA dams because it has to abide by guidelines set by the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD).
The corporation says this is because there is an absence of state-based dam safety regulations.
Regulation authority chairman Lyndon Rowe says the national guidelines are based on international standards, that include coping with 1,500 mm of rain within 72 hours.
He says they need to be supplemented by state-based regulations.
“If you were to introduce legislation, and as I understand it this is what the Government’s considering, to augment or supplement those ANCOLD guidelines, then there would be the capacity to save some of that money and obviously therefore it can be spent elsewhere,” he said.
“By spending that money in other areas you would actually increase safety in the community.”
I note that some stations along they general line of the dams would have exceeded 1500mm rain in a YEAR – but never in 72hrs.
Does anybody know if the WA Govt ever did legislate as the above article suggests.
There are some interesting quotes in this article below.
“Conservationists warn of dangers of desalination” 19 Jun 2007
www.abc.net.au/news/2007-06-19/conservationists-warn-of-dangers-of-desalination/74052
Of course the art of an official letter – especially when you have been caught with your pants down – is to obfuscate, but in such a manner that the obfuscation is itself obfuscated. In this perspective, Doug Cunningham’s letter is a very professional job.
The information provided in such a letter must be correct, but avoid addressing the real issues, and especially avoid admitting any culpable error or fault. On all these counts, Doug’s effort is exemplary.
Naturally he can’t avoid leaving a few loose ends, including:
1. If the purpose of the Water Corporation collecting rain data is to monitor dam safety, and the key point is to avoid that massive downpours over 72 hours risk bursting dams – then why oh why are daily dam data still unverified after 6 months?
2. What, in fact, is going on when all these stations are reporting clearly unreliable and incomplete data month after month?
3. The whole country has been bombarded for years by stories of south-western WA being the canary in the coalmine for man-made climate change in Australia – its reduced rainfall since the 70s being just about the only significant observable shift in climate anywhere on the continent. How much of this “smoking gun” evidence is just smoke, based on ever-lazier collection of rainfall data?