Government admits Traveston Dam mistake

12:00a.m. 7th August 2008

The Queensland government has gone into damage control over advice given to Gympie Regional Council that the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam would cause no flow or reduced flow into the Mary River.

The government was forced yesterday to deny the accuracy of the information given as part of an information request by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA had written to the council for more information about its application to discharge treated effluent into the Mary from an upgraded treatment plant at Widgee.

The EPA document said “Reduced flow or zero flow of the Mary River due to the Traveston Dam is likely to increase the impact of any nutrient-laden waters on the receiving environment.’’

The request sparked an immediate outcry from Gympie Council. Mayor Ron Dyne said a zero flow on the Mary would have a major impact not only on the Fraser Coast and Gympie water supply but also on fishing at Hervey Bay and breeding grounds at the mouth of the river and serious implications for the Great Sandy Strait.

Sustainability, climate change and innovation minister Andrew McNamara went into damage control, apologising to Mr Dyne for what he described as “incorrect information that was sent to the council’’.

“As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of an application for expansion of the Gympie Regional Council sewage treatment plant, the council was asked to model for ‘zero flows of the Mary River as a result of the Traveston Dam’,’’ Mr McNamara said. ”We are reviewing how this clearly incorrect data came to be included in the letter, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is incorrect.

“It goes against all rigorous scientific analysis of the Traveston Crossing Dam. It’s a mistake, pure and simple.’’

Mr McNamara said he had spoken to Mr Dyne yesterday and offered to personally work more closely with him and the council on the sewage plant proposal.

Recent Comments

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Posted by colbond from Tewantin

on 7 August, 2008 at 8:10 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Mr McNamara, pull the other one, all this BS coming from your mouth makes me want to pass wind.

Posted by pistnbroke from noosa

on 7 August, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

you carnt dam a river and not affect the flow . Unless of course the dam is full which it wont be . After all the idea is to take water from the river system and pipe it to the towns...this must affect the flow . With what this dam will cost we could give everyone a tank !!!

Posted by News_Watcher from Redcliffe

on 7 August, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Ed, As the issue of building the dam continues to generate some stories, I wonder when the letter was sent to the council?

Posted by LJ_Turner from Marcoola

on 7 August, 2008 at 12:35 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Pistnbroke - thank you. No dam, no desal no pipes just big tanks - just like our forefathers. And it is cheaper and more sustainable.

But then there are still 2 issues. State Owned coal fired power plants will run out of water. The government can't sell-off tanks, but it can sell Water Retail.

By the way, in all current state owned power plants, and all planned ones, the current cost of water is ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait till they hit us with that increase.

Posted by BurrumRFarmer from Hervey bay

on 13 August, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

The state government has a bad track record with infrastructure. In Andrew Macnamas electorate of Hervey Bay, the Lenthalls Dam raising ( Burrum River) was completed in Dec 07 and the Lenthalls Dam gates have failed from Jan 08 and are still not repaired. The state govt has not held any of those responsible for this infrastructure failure to account.
Those responsible for the dam gate failure still have andrew mcnamaras support.

Not only is the Traveston Dam a disaster but people in the Traveston Community will have to live with affects for years later. I am concerned that the state govt does not have the skills to administer the infrastructure they are building.
Lenthalls Dam Gates (to raise storage on the Burrum River) just north of Traveston was completed in Dec 07 and failed from 01/08.

The infrastructure cost millions of dollars and still doesn not work. Our Family ( upstream) were almost washed away by the failure of the gates.
See the ABCarticle:
Resident fears dam gates risk flooding
Updated Wed May 21, 2008 8:25am AEST
• Map: Hervey Bay 4655
A land-holder upstream of a major dam south-west of Hervey Bay says multi-million dollar barriers on the storage are broken, putting her family at risk of flooding.
Queensland Deputy Premier Paul Lucas will officially open the $16 million project at Lenthalls Dam, which is designed to more than double the storage’s capacity.
In what is claimed to be an Australian first, the two metre high crest gates sink when the dam reaches capacity to prevent flooding upstream and provide for environmental flows.
But Esther Allan says in February the gates jammed, causing water to back up onto her property.
“This is an extremely expensive piece of infrastructure. Ratepayers paid for this and their expectation would be that it would be operable,” she said.
“If it wasn’t, we need to know why - not only because our family’s safety was put at risk, but because ratepayers expect to get a result from the infrastructure they pay for.”
The local government corporation that runs Lenthalls Dam says the gates do not work, but it was monitoring the rising water.
Wide Bay Water general manager David Wiskar says adjustments were needed during the dam’s commissioning and are continuing.
“The gates were all needing some fine-tuning. At the moment we were able to complete that tuning on three of the gates,” he said.
“There’s two that remain to be done, but we’re waiting until the level in the dam falls to an adequate level to [do] those final two.”

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