Warragamba Dam Raising

To whom it may concern,
Please leave nature alone. We have caused enough damage. This is a world heritage area. That is what is killing our world. Interference by man for financial gain. Very disappointing.

To whom it may concern,
I urge you to reject to the proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall.
I have treasured walking in the places that would be affected by these actions. I have watched platypus swimming in the Kowmung River while nursing tired legs in the cool water. I would like my children, and theirs, to have the same opportunity to visit these timeless and irreplaceable places.

To whom it may concern,
I am a long term resident of southern Sydney and make frequent trips into the Blue Mountains and also go to the recreation areas and townships along the river below the Warragamba Dam for fishing, kayaking and bushwalking.
I am very concerned that the significance of the indigenous hertigage of the areas being flooded above the Warrangamba dam has not been properly considered and that the environmental impacts have not been properly assessed. I also don't believe that the raising of the dam wall will have the flood mitigation benefits that are assumed. I don't believe that there has been effective modelling of the outcomes to prove the worht of the proposition or modelling and cost benefit of any alternative flood mitigation strategies. For example increasing the output of desalination plant could allow for lower storage needs thus allowing the increased capcoity for flood mitigation behind the exiting dam wall by loweing the overall long term storage capacity of the dam.
The loss of 5700 hectares of national park including world heritage areas is an unacceptable trade-off to allow for low quality housing estates on the current flood plain. Money and resource could be better spent by maintaining the current flood plain as much needed open space for recreation and putting more effort into expanding regional cities to open up employment and housing opportunities in cities like Nowra, Goulburn, Bathnurst, Orange and Dubbo

To whom it may concern,
I am so lucky to live in the Blue Mountains, a world heritage area, on lands of the Darug and Gundungurra people. I absolutely give a dam! The proposed raising of the dam wall will severely change hundreds of acres of prestige wilderness that surrounds the Kowmung, land which includes many culturally significant site of the Gundungurra people. We have a duty to protect these lands for future generations. The supposed flood mitigations of this proposal will not eventuate - land earmarked for developmental will still flood and livelihoods will be lost. This proposal is flawed and has been created by a ethically questionable company. I strongly oppose the raising of warragamba dam.

To whom it may concern,
Deep in the Australian wilderness, but right on Sydney’s doorstep, it is an area of enormous global significance, protected by the United Nations as World Heritage.
It’s also home to the Kowmung — one of the last official “wild rivers” in NSW.
I have bushwalked there. It gives me great happiness to know that this area is there- one of the last places relatively unaffected by humans- where nature rules and animals and birds can thrive. Such rare places that have escaped humans' dominance are of tremendous importance. Don't damage the area by raising the dam wall and causing intermittent water submersion.

To whom it may concern,
I fully reject any proposal to raise the warragamba dam wall.
The flooding of our world heritage area is another example by our government to destroy what belongs to the people! It is death by a thousand cuts to our world heritage area. Already we have increasing population in the blue mountains, increasing traffic, road widening, laws that allow unmitigated further developmentt, threats from the new badgerys creek airport, potentional rights for tourist helicopter flights from the medlow bath airfield among other destroying actions to further degrade our wilderness heritage areas.
Shame on the government for assisting in destroying our wilderness for the sake of developers greed.
Our wildlife, native vegetation and aboriginal heritage sites will be all at risk thanks to this blatant vandalism.
What are our future generations going to say regarding the actions of our government that governs for the greedy developers who bugger up our environment?

To whom it may concern,
I do not want the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall to go ahead. It will impact and destroy too many ancient Aboriginal sites and risk more wild life becoming extinct.

To whom it may concern,
I am concered about the environmental impacts of raising the Dam wall at Warragamba Dam. I am concerned for cultural sites, wildlife habitat and ecological strain.
I do not support the Warragamba Dam Raising project and I request that the NSW Government cease planning for the project.

To whom it may concern,
On average, 45% of floodwaters are derived from areas outside of the upstream Warragamba Dam catchment. I believe it is therefore a waste of valuable resources to raise the dam wall, as the loss of irreplaceable wildlife and indigenous artifacts will be greater than the flood mitigation acheived. I would suggest instead of allowing residential development in floodplain areas, parliament should reduce the rate Australia's population growth by evaluating our immigration policy.

Our annual migrant flow is out of hand and rapidly driving our nation to a point where it is becoming a third world country. Because of the ridiculous volume of migrants, housing is impossible to keep on top of, like health care etc., etc. Only a short time has lapsed since our eastern shores were close to being in a desperate position as far as water supplies went, some have short memories of that. Water is crucial for survival of all forms of life and sometimes it is necessary to loose something important so as to gain something necessary. It seems always something necessary is going to be done, lots of winging urban greenies forget about human life and go to extremes to block anything which is essential or sensible to provide for our population to survive. If our population was stagnant, which would be fantastic, thinks environmentally could stay as they are, but just look what our population is doing growth wise, it is ridiculous and something which the winging greenies and the likes of the Bob Brown foundation, should be fighting to control, rather than the harm they are causing on businesses and individuals. Let dam capacities be increased and new dams formed wherever possible.

To whom it may concern,
I am writing to express my opposition to raising the Warragamba Dam wall.
There are many alternative options to raising the Warragamba Dam wall that would protect existing floodplain communities. A combined approach of multiple options has been recommended as the most cost-effective means of flood risk mitigation.
My objections are based on the following:
1. Lack of trust in the assessing firm and their reports:
There are extreme doubts about the integrity and competency of the engineering firm (SMEC Engineering) who undertook the environmental and cultural assessments for the project; They have an established history abusing Indigenous rights and were recently barred from the World Bank.
• Severe fires during the summer of 2019/20 devastated 81% of Blue Mountains Heritage Area. No post-bushfire field surveys have been undertaken.
2. Absence of free, prior and informed consent by the Gundungurra Traditional Owners and wholesale destruction of cultural sites
• Only 27% of the impact area was assessed for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage - and of that small amount of assessment over 1541 identified cultural heritage sites were found that would be inundated by the Dam proposal.
• The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report has been severely and repeatedly criticised by both the Australian Department of Environment and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for not appropriately assessing cultural heritage in meaningful consultation with Gundungurra community members.
2. Destruction of World Heritage-listed national park and threatened species
The Blue Mountains World Heritage area is not just a world class National Park, in 2000 it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list in recognition of its Outstanding Universal Value for the whole of mankind. Raising the Warragamba dam wall and consequent damage to natural and cultural values would be a clear breach of these undertakings and Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention.
Australia already has a very poor international reputation concerning management of natural resources and the rate of animal and plant extinctions.
Threatened species surveys are substantially less than guideline requirements. Where field surveys were not adequately completed, expert reports were not obtained.
• No modelling of the stated flood and economic benefits of the dam wall raising are outlined in the EIS.
• The integrity of the environmental assessment is fundamentally flawed, and cannot be accepted as a basis for further decision-making by the Minister for Planning.
• On average, 45% of floodwaters are derived from areas outside of the upstream Warragamba Dam catchment. This means that no matter how high the dam wall is constructed, it will not be able to prevent flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley downstream.
• 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:
o The Kowmung River - declared a ‘Wild River’, protected for its pristine condition under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974;
o Unique eucalyptus species diversity recognised as having Outstanding Universal Value under the area’s World Heritage listing such as the Camden White Gum;
o A number of Threatened Ecological Communities, notably Grassy Box Woodland;
o Habitat for endangered and critically endangered species including the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater and Sydney’s last Emu population.
There are many alternative options to raising the Warragamba Dam Wall, which were not comprehensively assessed in the EIS. Any assessment of alternatives does not take into account the economic benefits that would offset the initial cost of implementation.
I beg you to reconsider this plan, which will be disastrous to the very environment the developers expect the new residents to live in.

No World Heritage area should be lost.No forest should be lost destroying the habitat of other species and leading to further species extinction. . No government should destroy the natural landscape for the use of population that should not be housed in an area needing water from a World Heritage area which is the reason this project is intended. GOVERNMENT SHOULD USE LAND ALREADY DESTROYED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY.I was born in Katoomba and am aware of the tragic mistakes governments have made that have resulted in loss of water in the once beautiful landscape that was so admired by Charles Darwin on his visit there in 1836.

Unless the NSW Government wants to incur the same worldwide disdain as Rio Tinto has thru their destruction of Juukan sites, and accompanying ESG ratings, you should listen to the recommendations of... Insurance Council Australia, NPWS, Dept of Environment, etc. This project is an abomination. It will cause a mass of destruction of both the environment and aboriginal heritage. You should also consider where Gladys is now.

To whom it may concern,
I oppsose the raising of the Warragamba Dam for the following reasons
The Blue Mountains World Heritage area is not just a world class National Park, in 2000 it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list in recognition of its Outstanding Universal Value for the whole of mankind. Raising the Warragamba dam wall and consequent damage to natural and cultural values would be a clear breach of these undertakings and Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention. I am a keen bushwalker and objest strongly to these sites being ruined just so developers can make more housing (and profit) in areas unsuitable for housing.
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 affected by the Dam project. Namely:
• The Kowmung River - declared a ‘Wild River’, protected for its pristine condition under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974;
• Unique eucalyptus species 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.
At the very least alternate proposals must be pursued before rampant permanent damnage has been done on a world hertiage site. The environment, worldwide has reached a critcal point and it is crucial that the NSW Government acts as leaders in conservation of our natural and cultural sites not destroyers of it.

To whom it may concern,
We cannot keep growing forever on a finite planet and a finite NSW. We have to live within ecological limits. Sydney cannot continue to grow forever and in so doing destroy the World Heritage Area it is so lucky to have on its doorstep. Raising Warragamba dam wall is not living within limits, it is pretending we can keep growing forever. This approach is why the world faces losing half its species by 2100. We can use water in better ways in Sydney and not waste it, we dont need to build bigger and higher dams. We need to learn that enough is enough and practice sufficiency. WE need desperately to protect one of the world's great World Heritage Areas in the Greater Blue Mountains. I thus stongly oppose raising the Warragamba dam wall.

To whom it may concern,
I strongly oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall. You will wipe out pristine bushland which is one of the last preserves for Australia's unique wildlife. This is a short term vision. There are other alternatives to water security which do not require you to destroy our native flora and fauna. Once they are gone it will be thousands of years to restore what you have destroyed.

To whom it may concern,
I am concerned about the raising of the dam and it's impact on wildlife.

To whom it may concern,
I have been very concerned to learn of the proposal to raise the wall of Warragamba Dam.
I have spent many hours walking in the areas which will be affected by flooding and also value the opinions of the original owners of this area who are in danger of losing valuable sites.
I oppose the raising of the wall because it has not in my opinion given enough consideration to the environmental damageit will cause.
Furthermore it is quite evident that a higher wall means there will be greater risk of flooding further downstream in times when the dam has to discharge water.
I fear that economic short term gains for building further housing in flood prone areas will be the result.

To whom it may concern,

Please use rainwater tanks and recycled water systems to secure Sydney's water supply in preference to raising this dam wall.
Please do not allow inappropriate building on a flood plain rather than raising this dam wall. Please gently increase the density of high quality, affordable homes with very good access to walkable amenities in Sydney rather than perpetuate car dependence in our sprawling city.
I am a busy working mother so cannot expand on this short submission.

To whom it may concern,
I am OPPOSED to the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall.
I have been visiting the areas surrounding the Dam for natural recreation over my life time of 60 years, including as a bush walker.
The areas under threat contain irreplacable natural habitat for many species of flora and fauna.
While I understand the pressures to provide housing and water for a large city - this proposal has environmental damage potential that will far outweigh its advantages.
To protect the flood plains alternative mitigation solutions are available. For water supply desalination using green power will be an environmentally safer solution.
Most importantly we must strenously protect our natural environment from the disater of roughshod development greed. Our natural lands need to be protected for all future generations to enjoy.
Please therefore reject the proposal to increase the dam height of Warragamba Dam.