Warragamba Dam Raising

To whom it may concern,
Developer profits to build housing in flood plains at the expense of the fragile environment is not acceptable.

The Dam wall should not be raised Please listen to the scientists

To whom it may concern,
It's about time that the Australian Government & all State Governments invested in Desalination Plants for all of Australia's Coastal Cities & took a look at what other Countries have done to provide consistent water supply for their needs & move away from drowning arable land & forests which are increasingly shrinking due to over development.

To whom it may concern,
I am extremely concerned about any proposal to reduce Australia's current native bushland. We have a biodiveristy emergency in this country and this means that existing habitat should be preserved at all costs. This means maintaining habitat must take priority over development.
I would like the minister to consider and implement alternatives for water storage and flood mitigation. Alternative options should be thoroughly researched and presented in the EIS.
My current position is that I oppose the proposal to raise the dam wall.

To whom it may concern,
DON"T DO IT!

To whom it may concern,
I am sure most people objecting, will focus on the permanent loss of natural habitat, which also concerns me greatly.
However, I feel what we have now is not managed correctly, if we had:
- Water restrictions all the time, not just in drought
- Fix the leaks
- Educate the population in water management for the home and gardens
- Have water tanks fitted to all houses for water catchement
These few changes in what we do would mitigate the need for raising the dam wall, cost leass money and would save us losing our heritage areas.

To whom it may concern,
After visiting the Blue Mountains over a period of 35 years, my personal connection with the landscape, flora and fauna is integral to my own mental health, physical health and that of my families.
If someone can be so affected by the Blue Mountains over 35 years, then it's beyond comprehension how important that same landscape is to an ancient culture that dates back well over seven thousand years.
Over ONE THOUSAND sites have been identified as cultural heritage sites and they would all be directly effected by damming the Warragamba to the proposed new level. This fact is alone is a shocking disregard and offence to one of the oldest cultures on earth!
I am completely opposed to any further damming of the Warragamba Dam which would destroy ancient and culturally sensitive sites. The loss of unique eucalyptus species is also unacceptable.
The fact that the proposal disregards the value a World Heritage Area denotes and underlines, is a complete disregard for what is integral to the health of our own species!

To whom it may concern,
Having lived in the Blue Mountains for my entire life, any projects that would have a significant ecological impact concern me greatly. Working in hospitality in Katoomba, I know that a large majority of the businesses in the Blue Mountains are reliant on tourism, and as the effects of this project will be visible from Echo Point (one of the largest tourist attractions in the Blue Mountains) I am concerned about the finical impact of this project on our tourism industry.
This project will inundate 5,700 hectares of National Parks and 1,300 hectares of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, causing significant environmental damage. Additionally, it has been estimated that the project would flood 1,500 indigenous cultural heritage sites. Such damage to the natural and cultural aspects of the Blue Mountains is in breach of Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention and could impact the World Heritage status of the Blue Mountains, consequently impacting the tourism industry of the Blue Mountains. According to Destination NSW's report Economic Contribution of Tourism to NSW, 2016-2017, the tourism industry of the Blue Mountains contributed $34.2 billion to the NSW economy (6% of the state's GSP) and employed approximately 171,000 people. Considering this, I believe that this project poses too great a risk to both the environmental and cultural integrity of the Blue Mountains as well having the potential to endanger citizens jobs and a significant percentage of the states GSP.
Along with these considerations, it is my belief that we as a people have a moral obligation to protect the land that we live on, the species that live on this land, especially endangered species such as the emu, koala, and regent honeyeater (all whose habitats will be flooded by this project) and indigenous cultural heritage sites.
Due to the factors mentioned in this letter, I strongly oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall.

To whom it may concern, The world-heritage-listed Blue Mountains are precious for many reasons - threatened plant and animal species, indigenous cultural sites, one of the last wild rivers, the Kowmung, near Sydney - and should not be flooded as per this proposal - an area which Australia promised the rest of the world to protect. Why has Matt Kean omitted to add this site to his list of "Assets of Intergenerational Significance"? There are also other ways of mitigating flood events that will not harm the environment.

To whom it may concern,
I am a long time resident of the Blue Mountains. I moved here over 50 years ago and feel strongly against the proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall.
It terrifies me to think that the Warragamba Dam wall can be raised higher than present day. Not only will it flood further into the Burragorang Valley, but it will allow for more water to be stored in Warragamba Dam and then when it overflows (and it would) those on the flood plains will be devastated more than ever. Putting more housing on the flood plains should be totally out of the question. It would put more lives and livlihoods at risk.
Raising the Warragamba Dam wall will affect:
• Identified Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in the Burragorang Valley and beyond
• Identified threatened species of the area
• Identified Wild Rivers of the area
• The UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Blue Mountains
Please consider alternatives to raising the Warragamba Dam wall for the future generations.

To whom it may concern,
I oppose this dam wall raising. I would like to see more research conducted before the dam wall is increased. It concerns me that the advice of relevant government departments has not been heeded.

To whom it may concern,
I oppose raising the dam. It's an unnecessary reaction to a risk that does not warrant it. The damage to the environment will be horrendous. Please stop this proposal.

To whom it may concern,
My partner has family living in SW Sydney and when we visit we enjoy walking and canyoning in the blue moutains area the I am deeply concerned that the project of raising the Warragamba dam wall will result in damage to natural and cultural values.
I oppose the dam raising.

To whom it may concern,
This must not happen. We must conserve all our remaining wilderness at all costs .
Thos plan is flawed and not a solution.
I object.

To whom it may concern,
I wish to voice my opposition to the NSW Government's raising the wall of the Warragamba dam.
Outside of travel restrictions, I regularly take trips to the Blue Mountains with my husband and daughter to go bushwalking so that we can escape the suburbs and enjoy the fresh air, nature and its' beautiful surrounds whilst exercising. We also never tire of discovering the indigenous history of the region where there are over 1,541 identified cultural heritage sites that would be inundated by the dam and of which have not been appropriately assessed in consultation with the Gundungurra Community. Australia has a long way to go in recognising its' indigenous history and people, and the painfully slow, small but hopeful steps that have been taken over time will feel like they have been done in vain if this goes ahead and will only cause more division.
The flora and fauna that will be wiped away is heartbreakingly unnecessary and borders on criminal when we are approaching devastating climate change with so many plants and animals struggling to adapt and the threat of becoming extinct. There are already a number of threatened ecological communities in the area including habitat for critically endangered species like the Regent Honeyeaters and Sydney's last Emu population and World Heritage sites will be under attack.
The engineering firm SMEC that did the environmental and cultural study have a history of abusing Indigenous rights and have recently been barred from the World Bank and have not adequately assessed the impacts of recent bushfires to the area, have only assessed 27% of the impacted area for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, have not obtained expert reports on threatened species, have not done any modelling of the the flood and economic benefits that have been stated in their report and therefore should not be used by the Minister for Planning to make further decisions as it lacks integrity and is fundamentally flawed.
The alternative options to raising the Warragamba dam wall have not been assessed appropriately by the EIS. No matter how high the wall is built, flooding can never be prevented in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Vally downstream as 45% of floodwaters are derived from areas outside of the catchment upstream of Warragamba dam.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my submission and I look forward to the right decision being made NOT to raise the Warragamba dam wall.

To whom it may concern,
We came to the Blue Mtns in 1990 to enjoy the lifestyle afforded by the local environment and its flora and fauna (via bushwalking and living in proximity to the Blue Mountains National Park).

When the World Heritage GBMA (Greater Blue Mountains Area) was announced in 2000 this action was clearly an indication that the original UNESCO nomination by the Australian Federal & NSW State Governments also recognised the need to protect this area of outstanding universal value (refer https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/917/).

That was a time to celebrate their joint decision.

The NSW Government now (2016) deem that raising the Warragamba Dam by 17m, thereby flooding up to 6,000ha of that GBMA on the scantily modelled pretext that this action may "possibly" ameliorate flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain (H-N floodplain).
This NSW Government project does not appear to have been adequately assessed (presumably with assistance from SMEC Engineering) whose environmental and cultural credentials on other similar projects in the world seem to have been less than acceptable to bodies such as the World Bank (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-29/smec-hit-by-world-bank-ban-over-bribery-allegations/9001772).


This is a time to condemn a poorly formulated solution to flood plain management.

Hence we strongly oppose raising the dam wall which will cause untold damage to the World Heritage GBMA.

Other options need to be investigated by the NSW government in regard to flooding in the H-N floodplain, and local authorities should not be encouraged to allow excessive further density of population to occur within this already overburdened residential zone.

Other points of concern:
* 65Kms of wilderness rivers (eg Kowmung) would be inundated
* 1,500 indigeous sites estimated to be inundated
* Habitat of endangered Koala & Honeyeater colonies to be drowned
* Only 7.5m of the 17m dam wall increase has apparently been considered in the environmental assessment , this seems absurd...
* Approval of this project will set a dangerous precedent for Australia's World Heritage and National Park protections
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To whom it may concern
I am writing to state my strong opposition to any decision to raise the wall height of Warragamba Dam.
I have been a local owner-occupier resident of the Upper Blue Mountains for the last fifteen years and prior to this a long term homeowner in Kurrajong, in the Hawkesbury LGA.
When I was a resident of the Hawkesbury LGA I also worked fulltime as a community development worker in the area. I witnessed the extremely poor, and dangerous, planning decisions made by Hawkesbury City Council at that time in approving large scale housing development in Bligh Park and South Windsor - natural flood plain lands.
Now as a resident of Upper Blue Mountains I take great joy in the absolute beauty of the bushland that is my backyard - a World Class and World Heritage listed wonderland, and a truly unique environment.
I am devastated to think that any Australian government would destroy that which the whole World holds dear - the Blue Mountains National Park is WORLD HERITAGE LISTED - this classification is not something that is easily given and definitely not something to be subjected to planned legislated destruction.
The world governments are coming together in Glasgow this week to try and obtain universal active support to rectify the damage being done to the planet by human development and agriculture. We need to protect our natural environment more than ever in any strategy to offset climate change. We cannot afford to destroy our wilderness areas as an alleged strategy to minimise flooding in urban areas.
Raising the dam wall will not protect the housing communities downstream on flood plains. What will protect people and livestock is to plan and construct effective flood evacuation routes and STOP destroying prime agricultural land (ie flood plains) for the sake of housing development and the fast dollar. Stop future development on flood prone/flood plain lands.
I have read that there has been little rigour in the assessments undertaken on the impact of raising the dam wall on the affected environment - that only 27% of the proposed area was assessed for Aboriginal cultural heritage, and that the writer of this assessment spent only one day in the field; that only 3 and a half hours were spent looking for Koalas during the assessment; that the firm that undertook the environmental and cultural assessment, SMEC Engineering, have a poor reputation of working with Indigenous people and have been banned from carrying out World Bank projects on the Asian continent.
Furthermore I understand there is no modelling of any economic or flood benefits in the assessment - no accountability given for any decision to go ahead and raise the dam wall. And finally the Former SES Dep. Commissioner and flood expert, Chas Keys, has stated the project to raise the dam wall is "flawed" and "should not be proceeded with".
I implore the government to respect our natural environment, the incredible gift on the doorstep of Sydney that is the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. There is absolutely NO valid or rational reason to destroy this environment. In fact any plans to adversely affect the flora, fauna, Dharug and Gundungurra cultural heritage sites and song lines, and the wild rivers of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area would amount to EXTREME and CRIMINAL VANDALISM.
I again implore you to protect our heritage.

To whom it may concern,
I loved buswalking in the Blue Mts when I lived in Sydney. My son and his friends go rock-climbing there.
I oppose the dam. We are keen on conserving the environment and allowing eco-systems, the flora and fauna endemic to the area to flourish. The proposed wall raising will jeorpadise much of the natural environment. It involves the National Park which is for all of Australians and other visitors to enjoy. The engineering firm EIS is not sound. There needs to be consultation with the indigeneous people. There was no modelling of the flood and economic benefits of the wall raising.
Surely there are alternatives to be assessed.

Dear Minister,
As a member of Birdlife Australia I am very worried about the impact that raising the Warragamba Dam wall will have on the Regent Honeyeater. This Critically Endangered Honeyeater is known to breed successfully in the area which will be flooded. There are so few of these birds alive today, they must be allowed to breed undisturbed in this area.
I love the Blue Mountains area and have walked and travelled there since childhood, including camping in Burragorang Valley prior to the Dam being built. I cherish pristine bushland, and I am appalled to think of a further large natural area being lost in order to allow more housing which could still be flooded by a flooding event. I understand that a large proportion of floodwaters come from outside the actual Warragamba Dam catchment, so that raising the Dam wall will not save houses downstream from flooding.
If the EIS is accepted, the Kowmung River will no longer be protected in pristine and wild condition - that is not acceptable to me, nor is the carving out of 1,300 hectares from the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
These are precious places which need to be able to survive intact for future generations, and right now is the time to esure their protection.
I oppose the raising of the Dam wall and do not believe this EIS is in any way adequate to be accepted as a basis for Government action There have been no post-fire surveys undertaken, only a small proportion of the impact area has been assessed for Aboriginal cultural heritage and the Threatened Species surveys are also woefully inadequate.
This seems to me an onslaught on Australian heritage, and I urge the Government and you as Minister for Planning to reject the EIS and to consider other options than Dam Raising.

To whom it may concern,
The Blue Mountains World Heritage area has long been a place I cherish. From buskwalking in the 1970's, to rockblimbing for several decades, rafting the Cox and now later in life day walks, picnics and bit of mountain biking on the fire trails.

The plan to flood a huge section of this World Heritage to profit developers is just evil. There is no reason to raise the wall except some people bought some land on a flood plain and now want to make millions out it.

It is very poor public policy, opposed by the World Heritage committee and makes a mockery of the governments contention it cares about the environment and is not driven by favours for political mates and donors.
Leave the Dam alone. There is lots of land available for housing that is not flood prone.

To whom it may concern,
I am a 25 year old resident of the Blacktown LGA in western Sydney, and I am making a submission opposing the idea of raising Warragamba Dam due to the negative impacts this would have on our natural and cultural heritage.
I have been bushwalking amongst the wonderful natural environments and biodiversity of both the Blue Mountains and the Western Sydney areas my whole life. I hope to be able to do the same with my children one day, but raising the dam would do significant damage to both areas through flooding behind the dam and development below it.
I believe that these places' inherent value, and therefore the inherent cost of the irreversible damage raising the dam wall would cause, are more than enough reason alone to not proceed. Raising the dam would flood 5700 hectares of National Park (including 1,300 hectares of unique World Heritage area) and 65km of wilderness rivers, harm populations of unique flora and fauna such as the Camden White Gum and the Regent Honeyeater, destroy Threatened Ecological Communities such as Grassy Box Woodland, and inundate over 1500 cultural heritage sites. There is no way to calculate the value of that loss.
Beyond the inherent value of these environments, there are several other reasons that this proposal should not proceed, including:
• significant failures of the EIS, such as SMEC engineering's poor track record on Indigenous rights and deficiencies in the assessments of the relevant area's post-bushfire state, Aboriginal cultural heritage, and threatened species.
• the flawed Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report which was written without meaningful consultation with the Gundungurra community.
• the existence of other viable alternatives which are less costly and more effective.
As a result I oppose the proposal and ask that the government doesn't go ahead with it.