Warragamba Dam Raising

I object to the raising of Warragamba Dam due to it's irreversible damage to the World Heritage site and local environment as well as the lack of proof validating the economic benefits of the project. As both an Environmental Scientist and a resident of the Blue Mountains, I am severely disappointed that this project is still being considered after the already faulty EIS clearly demonstrates the damage this project will cause to the World Heritage site.
To outline some major points within the report:
- Only 7.5 metres of the 17 metre increase on dam height has been considered within the EIS. This is makes all the following damage assessments noted below to be conservative estimates. This is an egregious error and a waste of taxpayer money as the work done in the report is not representative of the actual damages to occur.
- The damages would be in breach of Australia's obligations under the World Heritage Convention. If this project were to continue, it would be a national embarrassment and dent the credibility of eco tourism, one of our best income producing industries.
- Only 27% of the total impact area (again, just the area within the 7.5 metre increase) was assessed for Aboriginal Heritage sites. It is estimated to flood 1,500 sites within this assessment.
- The current threatened species assessment shows that there will be loss of habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater as well as Koalas. NSW fauna have already lost so much after the 2019/2020 fires and need time and habitat to recover.
- No post-bushfire threatened species field surveys were undertaken for this assessment. The bushfires of 2019/2020 scorched much the Blue Mountains and the area will be recovering for some time. Does the NSW Government even pretend to care if we lose the very species that are endemic to our beautiful state?
- There is no modelling of the stated economic and flooding benefits within the EIS. Who assessed those benefits and how? This is unacceptable.
- There will be houses built on flood plain land that will suffer from land settling. This will impact the estimated 134,000 residents to move to these properties over the next 30 years.

These are only a few of the points I have found within the assessment and they are damning enough on their own. The assessment was not thorough and the damages the raised dam will cause are extensive. The project should be abandoned or another EIS should be carried out that correctly assess the full damages the 17 metre dam height increase will cause.

Please keep Scarborough gas (and 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2!) in the ground.

Please stop one of the most polluting fossil fuel projects in Australia from going ahead

Please don't raise the dam wall as this would destroy thousands of hectares of beautiful native habitat

Dear DPIE assessment team

Can you please assist in raising the Warragamba Dam wall to mitigate the risk to human life and to property in the flood plain of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment

1. We live near the Nepean River. Our family have lived here since the 1960,s.

2. In this period we have seen a number of floods and the community, the government, as well as governments departments have all had enough warnings. The last warning was the 21 March 2021.

3. We please ask if you can assist in helping to ensure the Dam wall is raised. The relevant engineers are all telling it needs to be done due to the “bath tub” effect and to avert a future catastrophe, in the waiting.

4. It makes no sense to wait for the disaster to occur then raise the dam wall after. The cost to repair the damage caused by severe flooding each and every time it happens is not the right thing to do.

5. This is exactly what happened with the last bush fire we had. Certain environmentalists successfully lobbied to stop the authorities from back burning and other physical strategies to reduce the fuel load.
a) Consequently, people and many, many animals died for no reason not to mention the monetary damage.
b) The outcome subsequent to the catastrophe, was to allow the authorities do what they need to in a controlled way to protect the animals, environment, people, and property.

6. Raising of the dam wall to better control flood discharge will also reduce environmental damage of everything down stream of the dam.
a) It will also provide more time to evacuate if needed to evacuate.
b) Currently, by doing nothing, the community and government are only placing the SES and other volunteers at more risk.

7. We live near Tench Reserve and love walking along the river.
a) We know that both the State and Local Council have spent millions and millions on making it so beautiful.
b) We thank them for that vision and we understand the raising of the dam wall will help protect this.
c) With the new airport so close in proximity, the river will become an important tourist employment hub (bread basket) for Penrith, by allowing more businesses to grow here.
8. The dam will also create employments for the next 3 years which is needed after the covid crisis

To whom it may concern,
I write in opposition to the New South Wales government's proposal to raise the wall of the Warragamba dam.
Until recently I was a resident of suburban Sydney, the Upper North Shore, but a frequent visitor to the area. I recently moved to the upper mountains. I am a keen hiker and in the few months that I have been here have traversed many of the local trials that exist within the Blue Mountains National Park - both on foot and on authorised mountain bike trails.
I am also a person who appreciates that climate change is requiring governments to come up with solutions to complex environmental challenges and that it is entirely appropriate for governments to examine proposals that could protect the community from the devastation that could arise if such problems are not fully and properly addressed. With less than favorable action at national level to reduce emissions, dealing with the negative consequences of climate change is sadly necessary.
I accept that making a decision as to the best alternative to address those concerns is also complex and difficult and that a multitude of competing factors need to be considered.
In this instance, however, the facts matters and circumstances which need to be considered do not, in my respectful submission, justify the government proceeding with any proposal to raise the Warragamba dam wall.

To whom it may concern,
The Blue Mountains National Park is a world heritage site, entrusted to us as Australian citizens to take care of it.
The NSW government should not be flooding a recognised world heritage area. The raising of the dam wall is not a not long term solution for flood mitigation and does not protect this area for our children. Please do not raise the height of the wall.

To whom it may concern,
My main concern about the raising of the dam wall is that building in the flood-plain will increase. This will mean more insurance payouts when it does flood (and it still will). This, in turn, will cause an increase to everybody's insurance premiums as the industry tries to recover the payouts.
I am also concerned about the loss of heritage of our traditional landholders.

To whom it may concern,
I am so very much opposed to the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall.
Not only is this a disaster for the flora and fauna of the area to be affected, it will have very little advantage with regards to flooding in the Nepean Hawkesbury area.
Floods happen in this area even when there is no need to open the spillgates. I believe this push to raise the dam wall is to the benefit of developers, using taxpayers' money so they can profit with little to no benefit for the people of NSW.
Shame on those who push for the raising of the dam wall, using emotive data to make their point!

The destruction and degradation of breeding habitat for Regent Honeyeaters is incongruous with the time and money that the Federal and NSW Governments have invested into the recovery program, including the Regent Honeyeater Captive Breeding and Release program. The destruction or degradation of a contemporary breeding site for Regent Honeyeaters would have dire consequences for the species as a whole.

To whom it may concern,
We don't need to destroy any more of the wildlife in greater Sydney. We definitely don't need to populate any more of the Cumberland plain. A recipe for disaster when it floods and taxpayers are stuck with paying for the damage. The current state government won't be here to be held accountable. Let us keep this final bit of nature.

To whom it may concern,
Due to current personal health issues this submission is brief. For the last 15 years I have represented the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas in Oceania. My advocacy for conservation has covered over 40 years. I have frequently been an advocate for the Blue Mointains area including 4 years on the Jenolan Caves Trust.
My strong objection to the raising of the dam wall is based on the simple fact that The Blue Mountains World Heritage area is not just a much loved and economically significant National Park proximate to a world city, but a World Heritage Area. Its Outstanding Universal Value belongs to the whole of humanity. Raising the Warragamba dam wall and consequent damage to natural and cultural values would clearly breach Australia’s obligations under the World Heritage Convention.
Overall I am unconvinced that the true motivation for this move is human safety, rather than real estate development and state income. My understanding is that the EIS is defficient in modelling of the stated flood and economic benefits of the dam wall raising.

To whom it may concern,
I live in the Blue Mountains Heritage area and view the proposals to raise the Warragamba Dam Wall negativley. Whilst a relaible water supply for Sydney and Lower Blue Mountains I see several negative impacts - flooding additional parts of the National Park, flooding Native Sites. It is my belief that the Dam is essentially with a rain shadow and fail to see hoe it would ever fill. I see the proposal as a smokescreen to cliam that downstream becomes less flood prone allowing even more inappropriate suburban development on the County of Cumberland.
Alternative to raising Warragamba include encouraging domestic roof water tanks for use in gardens and toilets, reducing demand on potable tap water. Tertiary treatment of sewerage water which seems to be acceptable in overseas citys - London, Salt Lake and Tel Aviv for example. Additional desalination plants (solar or wind powered) along the coast between Newcastle, Sydney and Woolongong) and these alternative could be started simultaneously and being smaller prodjects, brought online quicker than the proposed timetable for the Warragamba proposal providing more immediate results at posibility lesser costs and guaranteed results as oposed to a possible result at some far distant time from an unlikly full dam.
Simply proposing to raise the Warragamba Dam wall is political grandstanding for some distant result and is also simply 18th Century thinks without considering available alternatives

I grew up at Warragamba & as far as I'm concerned the wall won't hold any extention. You have a weir further down why not build it up & let the gap fill before releasing or for when it floods.

To whom it may concern,
I do not agree with the raising of the dam wall. Work should be done to floodproof the floodplain. Sensible planning for community downstream should take precedence to destroying the fragile environment upstream

To whom it may concern,
I am a resident of the Blue Mountains Heritage area and greatly value this beautiful area which has many pritine natural areas and watercourses.
Our goverement has a responsibility to protect this heritage area with its decreasing habitat for threatened species such as the Regent Honeyeater. We need to know that full surveys of threatened areas and aboriginal artefacts have been undertaken, not just single day visits.
I strongly oppose the raising of the dam wall by such a huge amount, inundating more than 5,700 hectares of National Parks and 1,300 hectares of World Heritage area. The potential for a huge disaster is contained in such a manipulation of the natural lie of the land.

To whom it may concern,
Please protect the World Heritage and cultural sites at risk of destruction from the dam project. In addition, the Gundungurra Traditional Owners have not approved this development which means it cannot go ahead. Many species of native species would be impacted by the development, there are alternatives the government should consider such as increasing housing density in multi story dwellings in areas already developed.

To whom it may concern,
The engineering firm (SMEC Engineering) who undertook the environmental and cultural assessments for the project have an established history abusing Indigenous rights, recently being 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.
Only 27% of the impact area was assessed for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage.
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.
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.
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 1974;
• 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.

To whom it may concern,
Raising the Warragamba dam wall has too many negative aspects to make it a viable proposition.
Please don't do it!

To whom it may concern,
raising the Warragamba Dam wall would be disastrous for upstream threatened ecosystems. In the event of a flood, raising the height of the dam’s wall by 14 metres would inundate 4700 hectares of Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, including sacred sites of the Gundungurra people.