NSW MP for Murray Helen Dalton said the specific decision to “indefinitely postpone” the raising of the Wyangala Dam wall is a huge win for people power in the Lachlan Valley, calling the project a “triple bottom line fail”.”I have spent the last two years campaigning against this project, as have many others across the Lachlan Valley,” Mrs Dalton said
“We have exposed the project as a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money that would have harmed both irrigators and the environment.”
Last Thursday The Australian reported the Wyangala Dam project would be “indefinitely postponed”, due to “soaring costs” of biodiversity offsets which are required to be purchased when a project has an environmental impact.
“National Party Water Minister Melinda Pavey, who championed the project, has refused to comment on whether this project has been scrapped,” Mrs Dalton said.
“That means we are winning this battle.”
In December 2020, Mrs Dalton and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Upper House MP Mark Banasiak visited the Riverina town of Hay to meet with residents concerned about the NSW Government’s multi-billion dollar project to raise the wall of the Wyangala Dam, located 50 kilometres south-east of Cowra in Central West NSW.
Booligal farmer Gordon Turner took them on a plane ride to show them the negative impacts of raising the dam wall.
“It was clear locals felt they hadn’t been consulted on this,” Mrs Dalton said
Mrs Dalton said more investment is needed in water infrastructure across regional NSW, but farmers need to be consulted, and projects must provide “bang for buck”.
The raising of the wall of Wyangala Dam, Mrs Dalton said, would only increase water available by 21 gigalitres while the project would cost an “extraordinary” $70,000 a megalitre.
“The NSW Government refused to release the business case or the Environmental Impact Statement,” Mrs Dalton said.
“The Lower Lachlan wetlands relies on water spilling over from the Wyangala Dam, to maintain bird breeding events and the native flora and fauna.
“But the raising of the wall could dramatically reduce the number of flood events into the area, so there won’t be enough water to replenish the environment.”
Irrigators could also face the prospect of paying for the expansion through fee and charge increases if the project was to go ahead, Mrs Dalton said.
