While the proposed Mole River Dam is touted by MP Barnaby Joyce as a win for the region and certainly has the backing of Tenterfield Shire Council, landholders in the area are not so sure the project is a positive move.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With $24 million of federal and state government funding put up for a business case (due to be delivered mid-2021) those directly affected are feeling left out of the loop with a dearth of information coming their way.
Mingoola Progress Association has reached out to Tenterfield Shire Council and WaterNSW with members' concerns about cost of water increases, altered flows, management impacts for those with dissected properties and, ironically, less access to water for irrigators if they are not awarded 100 per cent high security allocations.
READ MORE:
The association says the underground recharge and bores could also be impacted.
"Dumaresq irrigators may also be worse off due to possibly less water flowing in below Glen Lyon Dam, which they rely on when water is not being released out of Glen Lyon Dam," association president Richard Magner said in a letter to council chief executive Terry Dodds.
"As you know, all of us on the Tenterfield side of the Beardy are ratepayers of TSC.
"For these reasons and many others, we are becoming increasingly perplexed by the lack of information flow not only from WaterNSW but also from council. We feel we have a right to be in the loop and should be privy to any information you are sharing among yourselves that is pertinent to the proposed Mole River Dam and therefore our lives and livelihoods."
The association is keen to know the perceived benefits to the shire, apart from a possible short-term boon during the construction phase and then for recreational activities once the dam is filled.
The negative aspects, on the other hand, may be hard to justify given a proposed dam capacity of just 100 gigalitres, which the association said also wouldn't provide much flood mitigation protection.
Rob and Ruth Caldwell stand to see a portion of their property Alister go under water should the project proceed, with a total of more than 800 hectares of productive farm land to be flooded.
They are part of the newly-formed Mole River Protection Alliance, a group of local and broader community interests that has formed to examine the dam proposal.
Mr Caldwell appreciates that many would wonder why he and his wife are opposing the dam, instead of just grabbing the money and going.
"But I've lived next to this river for 70 years and Ruth has lived here since we were married, which is nearly 50 years, and my parents for 25 years before me and we have become rather fond of the Mole," he said. "We see the river from our kitchen every day.
"The National Party, NSW Farmers and even our own shire council seem to feel that if they just provide more and more water to the irrigators this will save Australia.
"There is very little benefit to Tenterfield and certainly no water for the town, Stanthorpe or Dundee.
"Tenterfield will lose at least 30 kilometres of beautiful river and creeks. Everyone who comes down to the Mole tell us how peaceful and lovely it is. Now the council wants to replace this with mud flats and dead trees and they think the tourists will flock here to look at this."
Mr Caldwell said the Murray/Darling river system is already under severe stress, with irrigators fighting each other for more and more water.
"The irrigators on the Darling think the irrigators in the north have far too much political clout and getting too much of the water. We have all heard of the fish kills in the Darling and some people around the Menindee Lakes feel that they have been shafted and yet all our leaders want to do is build more dams.
"Dams capture the floods that are needed to go right down through the river system for the lower Darling irrigators, the communities down there, and the river environment all the way down.
"The local irrigators just below the dam will change from unregulated to regulated flows in the Mole and will find this a lot dearer. WaterNSW has not yet said how much of the costs of the dam will be met by irrigators but their water will certainly cost a lot more after the dam is built.
"Also the local irrigators will have to compete with the big cotton growers further down the river for their water."
The alliance's Bev Smiles, president of Inland Rivers Network, said the Mole River Dam is not a beneficial investment of public money.
"Dams have a major impact on river health both upstream and downstream, affecting native fish populations, habitats and natural flows," she said.
"Mole River is one of the healthiest rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin. Even after the drought, the river supports Murray Cod and other fish threatened by river regulation."
Ms Smiles said natural flows from Mole River are very important. High flows and floods top up groundwater for later use, fill wetlands or meet the needs of fish and people down the Barwon and Darling.
"Some of the normal flow and higher flows are already extracted for irrigation along the Mole, Dumaresq or near Goondiwindi, and the remaining flows are essential for ecosystems, towns and stock and domestic users.
"The allocation of $24 million of public funds to develop a business case and environmental assessment for a Mole River Dam is not about more water security for Tenterfield nor water for industries on the tablelands.
"The dam would be 400 metres lower than Tenterfield. There will be no pipeline to pump water up."
Impacted landowner Bruce Norris said this public money would be better invested in improved services for Tenterfield that provide long term jobs and more economic stimulus, such as improved health services, a new youth centre, better internet connections and mobile coverage, and industry innovation.
Another alliance member Sarah Caldwell, downstream at Mole Station Native Nursery, said the dam would have significant impact on the natural environment with a permanent change to the river flow and ramifications for the Murray-Darling Basin.
"Most of the environmental impacts of this dam cannot be offset in any meaningful way. The value of our natural systems should be appreciated."
Along with the progress association, the alliance is also concerned about poor community consultation.
"Previous economic studies for a dam on Mole River have shown the project to be unviable,' Ms Smiles said.
"We believe that this hasn't changed and look forward to learning more about the basis for the business case that WaterNSW is developing. It should not cost $24 million to provide this."
And it's another uncertainty hanging over the heads of affected property owners on the back of the drought, bushfires and COVID-19.
"People are in a very precarious mental health state and the dam and not knowing how it will affect them has really distressed a great many people in the Mole River as well as further downstream,"Julia Harpham of Moorabinda said.
WaterNSW is conducting an online Social Impact Assessment Survey closing October 30.
Depending on the outcome of the final business case and funding allocation a decision on the project is anticipated by the end of 2021, with 2022 allocated for detailed design and pre-construction enabling work, and the actual construction phase expected to take 2-4 years.