Far West groups pour scorn on potential water infrastructure projects for region during water inquiry hearing
/A New South Wales Upper House inquiry has heard from groups from the far west of the state about their concerns regarding the Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project and water issues in general.
Key points:
- State upper house members visited far west this week as part of inquiry into proposed water projects
- Members hear communities concerns about water infrastructure projects at Broken Hill hearing
- Government says Menindee project is still being progressed
The Water Savings Project aims to, through infrastructure and rule changes to the lakes, reduce the water stored in the lakes to prevent water loss through evaporation.
It was designed to save 106 gigalitres of water per year and help the Government meet a Murray-Darling Basin Plan target of saving 605 gigalitres in the southern basin.
The inquiry is examining proposed water storage projects across the state including the Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project.
Chair and Greens MLC, Cate Faehrmann, said the committee's visit to the lakes on Wednesday morning had been "incredibly useful".
"What is happening here at Menindee Lakes is now very well in the minds of committee members," she said.
"We haven't covered this area much in our inquiry.
"[The site visit] has well and truly put it into a very strong position in our final report."
Far west groups voice concerns
Concerns regarding potential water infrastructure projects in the region were raised with committee members at a Broken Hill hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Local speakers discussed their desire to see flows make their way to downstream communities first before infrastructure projects are delivered.
They also discussed whether the water savings project's 106 gigalitre limit was feasible, their concerns regarding consultation, and the cultural, social and environmental importance of a flowing river and lakes system.
Broken Hill councillor Tom Kennedy said he was concerned that there would be no water held in Menindee if new new dams in the north of the state were built.
"If there's no water going down the Lachlan to the Murrumbidgee, that means water will have to come from the Darling," he said.
"We know that water is not coming from the Darling.
"So when there is a flood and the lakes do fill, the lakes will be used almost solely to replenish what NSW's obligations to South Australia and Victoria via the Darling [are]."
Barkandji cultural concerns
Barkandji Native Title Group CEO, Derek Hardman, said native title holders do not want to see water infrastructure projects impact on the cultural heritage of the Darling River and Menindee Lakes.
"We want to protect it and we're not going to just give it up for the sake of some infrastructure like we always do," he said.
"The Broken Hill to Wentworth Pipeline destroyed so much of our cultural heritage.
"We can't get that back now. That's gone."
New South Wales Nature Conservation Council Community Organiser, Jane MacAllister, said it was important more politicians came out to the region to see what was happening on the ground.
"To see the destruction wrought on the place, people [and] on the ecosystem," she said.
"It may never recover unless we get significant inflows.
"We still do have a long way to go but this [inquiry] is an important step."
Committee member and Liberal MLC, Catherine Cusack, said the inquiry will talk to further individuals about why the project had been put on the table.
"I would have to say it's one of the most contentious policies I've ever encountered," she said.
"The fact that it's on the table has upset the entire community down here tremendously.
"This is why we're having the inquiry now because it's good to investigate these issues while the policy is not yet fully determined."
'Come back to the table'
Project Officer of the Menindee Lakes Water Savings Project, Brad Hollis, said it was still being progressed despite the local stakeholder group walking away from negotiations.
He said the problem within Menindee Lakes was they were not a particularly efficient water storage and that they suffer from a large amount of losses annually.
"We're taking in excess of 400 gigalitres per year lost to evaporation … and up to 700 gigalitres when the lakes are surcharged," he said.
"Yes the water being evaporated is still providing an ecological function. The point though is it's not available for consumptive or any users including the environment further downstream.
"The capacity to move that water out of the lakes and have it advantage other users further downstream doesn't exist when we start to lose those quantums of water."
Mr Hollis said the project team believed all parties can still come together and work through a solution.
"We think that there needs to some conversation around what an alternative solution looks like at the Menindee Lakes given that the existing problems at Menindee are not going to go away," he said.
"The 'do nothing scenario' is not particularly ecologically, socially or culturally acceptable.
"I certainly very much encourage the community to come back to the table and understand where the latest project thinking is at."
The state's Water Minister, Melinda Pavey, said she had written to the community about the project.
"I understand that they want to talk about connectivity, which we are doing through regional water strategies," she said.
"We are taking into account climate change through our regional water strategies, we're licensing floodplain in the north.
"[And] if there's information that comes to that [inquiry] committee of course we take that into account."