Warragamba Dam Raising

To whom it may concern,
Don't sponsor the further overpopulation of the Sydney Basin and the destruction of the ever diminishing wild places in this age of climate change.

To whom it may concern,
The area that will be affected by the raising of the dam wall is an area not just of beauty, but part of an ever decreasing area that can be called home to Australian endangered wildlife. I don't need to be specific, as Australia is losing more species than any other country in the world. We need to protect our land and our flora and fauna.
Scientists of many different specialisations have been explicit in their concerns that raising the dam wall will not protect against flooding, but will impact on wildlife and native bushland. We need to listen to the science and read the reports and articles that have been written condemning the lack of thorough investigaton of the impacts of raising the dam wall.
I strongly oppose the raising of the dam wall, and hope that other options, such as building houses in areas that do not get flooded, or are raised, so that they do not get damaged when water levels rise.

To whom it may concern,
I SMELL A RAT , you people are incorrugible

Dear Receiver of this plea,
Please can we learn to live within our means.
Australia is under incredible pressure from accelerating biodiversity loss, both as a weakening of the nation and red alet marker.
The "we are ablaze" of 2019 - 2020, was to be expected, with disastrous loss.
There is already immense pressure of not heeding the warnings of living on Earth by humankind. that have been put in the last 50 - 60 years.
An abiding Interest in climate change comes from an incomarably sound role in the international fossil fuel sector, at project level, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Familiar with the temperatures of the south eastern half of Australia, the above maximum and minimum temperatures, now out strip average and below, the margin above, often large, the margin below rarely so.
Below mimimums often have above maximums.
This is rapidly worsening, as a screaming canary of putting matters out of our hands, of this all too often humankind occurrence mistake.
But the stakes are all, or nothing.
First off the rank barring raising the wall, is to put even more pressure on the biodiversity, when Earth has been put over the edge of maximising the stability, of its norm of closed systems.
Such stability has never been more essential, as Earth has a population nearing 8 bln, with soaring per capita power use, of which there is no world inventory oversight.
This is both a marker of humankind's capability, which is overblown and a red alert.
For it is this type of action worldwide, all disconnected, that finally puts the proposal out of reach.

To whom it may concern,
I am deeply concerned by the NSW Government's plan to raise Warragamba Dam. This is a short sighted idea clearly fuelled by developers in the pockets of Government Ministers. I think with the recent ICAC investigations these policies which only help the interests of a few will be shown for what they truely are - corruption, lies and profits for the big end of town.
I implore you to look at the real reasons why this proposal is even getting a hearing and think about your contribution to the generations that follow - you can't undo the damage once it's been done and the legacy of such a foolish proposal will lie directly with you.

To whom it may concern,
Please do not raise the Warragamba Dam Wall as this will flood large parts of our pristine natural park

To whom it may concern,
The Blue Mountains are treasured Australian national parks where I go to connect with family and country. It is a place that reminds us of the beauty and diversity of Australia full of beautiful native animals. The raising of the dam will will take what is a free and wonderful experience away, forever.
Dams do not conserve water. If water was meant to stagnate in one place, settle into a open plain, it would. Raising this dam wall will only exacerbate evaporation, leading to more water loss not only for the stored water, but lead to less water being released down stream. It is counter productive to raise a dam wall only to see more water loss, more land destroyed due to flooding, all so more people can build and live in what is already an over crowded city.
The inundation of streams and rivers would see a severe decline in platypus and native fish species. These animals require flowing rivers and billabong, not dams, to breed and thrive as the flowing water carries food and nutrients. Raising this dam wall will ruin yet another sanctuary for our beloved wildlife.
I am opposed to the raising of the dam wall. For the sake of greed and lack of understanding, this government will continue to reap and plunder our world heritage sites for its own profit.

To whom it may concern,
My grandma and cousins live out near the blue mountains, having visted them since I was a little kid, sitting on the train from Sydney airport for 2hrs to get out there, I have seen the area transform with new developments over the years.
Now I am 33 and my partner is a property developer, so I understand the need for housing, and the money to be made in new developments, however I am strongly against this plan as there are other ways (i.e. in-fill development) to house a growing population without destroying what makes it so wonderful to live out that way. The decisions we make today need to have the health of the planet and people as number one! We are seriously messing up the planet!

To whom it may concern,
Once more there is a proposal to raise the height of the Warragamba Dam wall, this time with the stated view to mitigate the effect of flood on the settled area of the Hawkesbury/ Nepean Flood Plain.
I am old enough to remember the big floods of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s and during various trips up and down the river system, as far as Wisemans Ferry, I have been horrified at the amount of development that has been allowed to take place by Governments of both parties at the behest of pro development forces both state and local, in areas which are absolutely certain to be impacted by flood. Certainly, Sydney needs development in certain areas, but it defies common sense to allow it on some of the most dangerous, flood prone land in the country. In the light of this, it has been stated by some experts that it would be cheaper to buy out those land holders on the flood plain rather than raise the dam wall! Of course, the Development Lobby being what it is, this will not happen. However, this conflict does form the basis of my concerns about the raising of the Dam wall, which are as follows;
1.
The catchment above the Warragamba is about one third of the total catchment, some of which reaches almost as far as Goulburn and so major flooding will still be possible, despite this Project.
2.
This Project will mean the loss or will severely damage areas on cultural importance of the Gundungurra people when First Nations peoples have been appallingly treated over the years by the actions of Australian governments and the private sector alike, with events such as the destruction of the Juukan Gorge Caves in WA by Rio Tinto in 2020 still fresh in our minds. And yet, the NSW Liberal/ National Party Government seems to believe this is project is somehow different.
3.
The area affected by the Project lies well within the World Heritage Area and the Blue Mountains National Park and therefore is subject to the protection of the World Heritage Convention. If the NSW State Government persists with the Project, it will demonstrate its contempt for the World Heritage Convention, and indeed the environmental qualities enshrined within its own National Park System. If points 2 and 3 are considered together, then it is likely that NSW and Australia as a whole, will receive further condemnation for its ongoing disregard for international Treaties, the rights of First Nation Peoples and Australia’s unique environment.
4.
As a bushwalker familiar with the area over the past 60 years, it is obvious to me that the Cox, the Kedumba and the Kowmung Rivers (the Kowmung is the only wild river left in the State) will be severely affected, even though the inundation levels are temporary. In times of flood, these rivers flow very swiftly with huge volumes of water and debris, so that when the flood reaches the rising stored water of the enhanced Warragamba catchment, this debris will be dropped to form an ugly barrier of sand, rock, logs and other detritus, burying local flora and natural features. This action will creep up the rivers as the stored water rises and so when the water falls, it will leave a scene of devastation. When this happens repeatedly over time, the natural environment of the Cox above the Kowmung and the Lower Kowmung Gorge and the Kedumba River will eventually be irreversibly destroyed.
5.
On reading through the IES I find that the environmental effect of Project is predicated on the use of “Offsets”; This legal fiction is based on the notion that one piece of natural environment is much the same as the next, or maybe at least similar and so the destruction of one part is acceptable it can be offset by the retention of another “similar”environment. Nowhere is this concept more patently absurd than the in lower Cox, the Kowmung and Kedumba Rivers. They are part of a wider landscape which is fundamentally important to 50,000 years of Gundungarra and Wiradjuri history and indeed, the history of Australian white settlement. It is also at the epicentre of Blue Mountains Tourism and as previously noted, the Blue Mountains World Heritage area.
In the light of the above objections and the known history of the Hawkesbury/ Nepean Flood Plain, it would be more sensible to control further development more tightly and develop better roads and flood protection strategies for those areas than proceed with this Project.

To whom it may concern,
Surely you can't be serious?! You're not even going to redo your environmental impact statement (that downplays – and denies – the environmental and cultural damage this dam will cause), despite being heavily condemned by several agencies:
• The National Parks and Wildlife Service said it failed to address impacts on species and ecological communities affected by last year’s bushfires.
• Heritage NSW said the EIS failed to properly consider cultural heritage values or adequately consult Traditional Owners.
• The Commonwealth Environment Department said the evaluation failed to consider impacts on iconic species like the platypus, and told the NSW Government to redo the entire heritage assessment.

It’s hard to believe that you are refusing to redo this work and have carried out no further field studies since receiving these severe criticisms.

This is the most significant threat to Australia’s World Heritage in decades. There are few times in Australian history when Governments have undertaken such callous attacks on protected areas.
Have a good hard look at yourselves and smarten up, for God's sake.

To whom it may concern,
I do not support this proposal due to the destruction of natural and cultural values that will occur

To whom it may concern,
I'm totally opposed to the proposal to raise the wall of Warragamba Dam, as it ignores the concerns of the Gundungurra People, who wish to protect their rights, as the traditional owners of much of the land that will be drowned, protected.
And I have a personal interest, in protecting this land from being submerged, as it will prevent myself, my descendants, and the many others who regularly enjoy hiking, from experiencing this unique landscape.
Surely it's time for the NSW Government to commit to the now available technology of converting seawater to fresh water, rather than destroy even more of our rapidly diminishing natural landscape!

To whom it may concern,
Please don't go ahead with this ridiculous plan - however are our children and grandchildren ever going to see or know of our wildlife when you continue to consider ignoring the beautiful land - and especially ingnoring the plight of endangered species. Please please don't build this dam!

To whom it may concern,
I have been deeply concerned about water and its use for many years in Australia. The harshness of our country and the lack of control with continuing higher temperatures is worrying for our future.
A dam will collect more water - that's it! But RECYCLING our water from raw sewerage is a far better output because it is constant.
The city of Bradford from which I emigrated in 1965 had for 66 years recycled raw sewerage to return as drinking water to domestic households. The foresight of Bradford Council at that time is mindboggling, and they produced by-products such as Lanolin and oil for the manufacture of paint.
Everyone wins.
The Warrangamba Dam wall should NOT be raised.
Our contempt of the original owners of this land over the years has shown little respect for their culture which should be invaluable not just now but for future generations to come.

RECYCLE DON'T DAM

Yours sincerely,
John Hockney
4, Vale Street
Leura, 2780, NSW
I accept the Department's submissions disclaimer and declaration
I have not made a reportable political donation in the past two years.

i wish to object to raising Warragamba dam by the proposed 17 metre level on the following grounds;
Gundungurra Traditional Owners have not given Free, Prior and Informed Consent for the Dam proposal to proceed
• Over 1541 identified cultural heritage siteswould 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.

To whom it may concern,
Raising the Warragamba Dam wall by 17 feet will be a disaster for the natural environment. At the same time it would not achieve any benefits.
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.

Raising the dam wall would cause too much precious parklands to be flooded. All the wildlife, both flora and fauna would be killed. Also we would lose the sequestration of CO2 by all the plants and trees.

World heritage listed area, you guys are a embarrassment for even thinking about it.

To whom it may concern,
Destruction of Country...'World Heritage' does not equate with Healing Country.
Raising the Dam wall is offensive and illogical.

To whom it may concern,
I am opposed to any dam being built in Australia because of the environmental impacts, which my tax-payer dollars have to pay to repair. I am also deeply concerned about the welfare of river systems and the life they support.
Dams through the ages have had disasterous effects on ecosystems and humanity should hang their heads in shame that this is still going on to this day. We have seen the effects downstream, with changes in the river's flow and water quality which usually cause irreversible effects, often down to the river mouth and beyond.
The environmental consequences of large dams are numerous and varied, and includes direct impacts to the biological, chemical and physical properties of rivers and the banks of river's environments.
The dam wall itself blocks fish migrations, which in some cases and with some species completely separate spawning habitats from rearing habitats. The dam also traps sediments, which are critical for maintaining physical processes and habitats downstream of the dam (include the maintenance of productive deltas, barrier islands, fertile floodplains and coastal wetlands).
Another significant and obvious impact is the transformation upstream of the dam from a free-flowing river ecosystem to an artificial slack-water reservoir habitat. which undermines the river's natural communities of plants and animals.
With this in mind, how can you possibly justify building a dam.

Yours sincerely,
Almeda Peer
28 Avenue Rd
Strathalbyn, 5255, South Australia
I accept the Department's submissions disclaimer and declaration
I have not made a reportable political donation in the past two years.
Address please

To whom it may concern:
I oppose raising the dam wall. This area was already thoroughly assessed and deemed unsuitable. It would be catastrophic for wildlife, including our slowly disappearing platypus. It would mean more species loss. You already have all the information available from World Heritage and numerous other organizations. This absolutely must not go ahead. The indiginous people have not been included in the decision and the are ancient cultural paintings etc that would be threatened. These stunning areas must be protected. Australia already has the worst record in the world for loss of habitat.