Warragamba Dam Raising

To whom it may concern,
I oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall.
I find it a real concern that the current EIS has all but dismissed concerns raised by both the community and Government officers to the first EIS. Even expert opinions have not been addressed. It is of great concern that this EIS has announced that the advice from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is also to be ignored and that it intends to change the boundaries of the World Heritage area This is an abominable use of power. This EIS also ignores the advice from Sydney Water and Health NSW about the effects this will have on our drinking water quality.
This EIS does not give enough consideration to the destruction of some of Australia's most important areas. These include:
• The Kowmung River - declared a ‘Wild River’.
• Unique eucalyptus species diversity recognised as having Outstanding Universal Value;
• A number of Threatened Ecological Communities, notably Grassy Box Woodland;
• Habitat for endangered and critically endangered species including the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater and Sydney’s last Emu population.
Aboriginal cultural heritage has also been ignored.
Alternatives have not been considered. 45% of floodwaters are derived from areas outside of the upstream Warragamba Dam catchment. Hence, raising the wall will not make any difference to flooding downstram.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
It's been known for decades that the Hawkesbury flood plain flooded and was overbuilt. Raising the dam wall won't solve either problem. Most of the flooding is coming from waterways that don't actually empty into Warragamba, so raising the wall won't help. Instead, please focus on helping the people who need to move because their homes are at risk.

In terms of drinking water security, ee have a desalination plant that we're paying for anyway. Let's use the damn thing.
Please don't put profits ahead of protecting the world heritage Blue Mountains and the Aboriginal heritage that is currently being threatened.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I oppose the raising of the dam wall. This move will destroy environment and heritage values upstream and is clearly being done to benefit developers at community expense. The arguments presented about reducing floods don't add up, with nearly half floodwater coming from outside the dam.
Poor planning has allowed residential development on floodplains that will increasingly be at risk from climate change impacts. Bigger dams won't stop poor development.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I request the State government reject outright its plan to raise the height of Warragamba Dam.
The NSW State Governments revised EIS:
• fundamentally dismisses the concerns raised in 2,500 community and government agency submissions to the initial EIS in 2021, and in some cases expert submissions were not even addressed
• shows the NSW Government intention's to ignore the advice of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee by changing the boundaries of the Blue Mountains National Park World Heritage Area.
• dismisses the serious concerns held by Sydney Water and Health NSW about the effects the dam project would have on Sydney's drinking water quality.
Furthermore, the revised EIS downplays the destruction of World Heritage and National Parks - an estimated 65 kilometres of wilderness rivers, and 5,700 hectares of National Parks, 1,300 hectares of which is within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, would be inundated by the Dam project. This includes the Kowmung River - declared a ‘Wild River’, protected for its pristine condition under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1976; unique eucalyptus species diversity recognised as having Outstanding Universal Value under the area’s World Heritage listing such as the Camden White Gum; a number of Threatened Ecological Communities, notably Grassy Box Woodland; habitat for endangered and critically endangered species including the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater and Sydney’s last Emu population.
I have personally experienced much of this pristine beauty which the Government intends to destroy.
I request that the State Government's Plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall is rejected outright.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I am opposed to the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall. I am against it for several reasons.
Firstly i feel the ecological and cultural impacts upstream of the dam are being ignored and are not worth more development in the flood plain. Once these natural environments are gone, we cannot get them back. We can always build elsewhere.
Secondly i feel that allowing more development in the flood zones is short sighted and ultimately for the benefit of property developers but not for the people living in Sydney. More urban development in areas on the outskirts of Sydney, away from public transport, suitably sized and maintained roads and centres of employment is only going increase congestion and pollution within the Sydney basin, which will ulitmately impact the quality of life of its residents. We need more serious thought and planning to create more populous cities throughput the state and distrubute the population across the vast open spaces we are blest to have.
Thirdly raising the dam wall doesnt make sense when more than 50% of the water that floods the hawkesbury and nepean basin comes from downstream sources of the dam. Other ways to mitigate flood damage to the current level of development in the flood plain need to be considered.

I do not support the use of my tax dollars to raising the dam wall.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
Government for the developers?
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I oppose raising the Warragamba dam wall.
The revised EIS has all but dismissed the concerns raised in 2,500 community and government agency submissions to the initial EIS in 2021, and in some cases expert submissions were not even addressed
Its outrageous that the NSW Government intends to ignore the advice of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee by changing the boundaries of the Blue Mountains National Park World Heritage Area.
Similarly, the serious concerns held by Sydney Water and Health NSW about the effects the dam project would have on Sydney's drinking water quality have been dismissed in the revised EIS.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
Total crap, totally wrong in it's assuptions, and conclussions.
It does nothing for towns upstream and might make their flooding worse aan impact wider.
It may have mininal improvement downstream. The Glenbrook, Grose, Eastern, Colo and others will still flood below the dam and you have not provided any solution for those. Just simple political solution without any real undersanding of the whole flood plain below the dam.
Typical politicians, go for the big announcement, make them look good, and in decades to come they the current politicians will be long gone and the proposal did not work and it's now somebody else's problem and 100 times more difficult and costly.
I do not knowl what the solution is but this round of politiical proposals have not provided a whole of issue solutions.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
Raising the Warragamba dam wall, will not control floods downstream. Fifty percent of water in the hawkesbury system comes off other water courses.
You don't give someone who can't operate a small car, a bigger car. As is the case with the dam operators at present. El Niña, La Niña predictions were given months in advance yet still the dam spills were not carried out in time?
Damage to the environment would be astronomical if the dam wall was raised.
Yours sincerely,

I do not support this project.
I believe that 40% of the water comes from other sources when flooding occurs and even if the dam wall is raised it will still flood.
By raising the dam wall habitat will be destroyed in the process and endangered plants, birds and animals will be wiped out .
Aboriginal sacred sites will be flooded and lost.
Money would be better spent on infrastructure so that people could safely escape.

Maintain groundwater within the catchment for the dam fully charged by use of swales/berms to slow run off into the dam slows the fill time for dam level longevity. Has the idea of spill directed west for wetlands been considered? Interfering with the height of the concrete structure is inherently dangerous and may result is catastrophic collapse.

I strongly object to the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall by 14 metres. I refer to, and support all, of the material facts and conclusions as to why the raising of Warragamba Dam wall is a totally retrograde action and contrary to the public interest (both national and international) as outlined in the Blue Mountains Conservation Society's submission in December 2021 to a previous consultation on this same issue: https://bluemountains.org.au/documents/submissions/2021/bs211219-warragamba-dam-wall-raising.pdf

I fully endorse the project and only hope that more dams will be built. The current situation with flooding only enforces the concept of water storage.
Having said that I am very intersted in the engineering involved in raising the wall. I will look on with interest as it proceeds. All the best and I wish you well and that the project goes full steam ahead.
Go for it.
regards Bob

Protect people's safety.

Warragamba Dam was designed some time in the 1930-1940 period and was at that time meant to provide a sustainable water supply for Sydney. The population of Sydney has increased many times over since that time and now we have periods of water restrictions which impact on families, homes, industry and commerce. The introduction of the water desalination plant was a very poor decision because it requires electric power to operate, and we know the limitations on that source of energy recently. Flood mitigation is another issue. on which the raising of the dam wall will have a positive effect. Put simply, future water supply to Sydney and flood mitigation are the best reasons to complete this project, and they are far more important than the questions of environmental damage which a small (loud) minotity raise in their quest to stop raising the Dam Wall.

Responsible governments do not allow people to build houses on flood plains but rather provide lands which are safe. These issues have arisen due to greed and incompetent governments who have put profits above sensible environmental laws. The dam wall should not be raised. Instead the government should be spending the money on relocating and supporting the families which need to move.
We cannot continue to exploit the environment for the good of humanity but rather recognise that we are part of the system and need a healthy natural world for our own survival.