TALLOWA PIPELINE COMPANY: READY TO SUCK SHOALHAVEN RIVER DRY

NSW and Shoalhaven Greens have jointly condemned comments from Nationals leader Andrew Stoner who plans to look at raising the wall height at Tallowa Dam, a proposal that was put in the bin during 2006.

Mr Stoner's comments are even more alarming in light of the revelation that private company Evans and Peck have made a submission to the NSW Government to pipe water from Tallowa Dam to Western NSW.

Greens NSW MP John Kaye said: “Pumping water over the Great Divide has never been a sensible idea and this particular proposal is even more flawed than most of its predecessors. In drought years towns like Goulburn and Yass would be in direct competition with Sydney for access to flows from the Shoalhaven River, creating even more conflict over the future of scarce water desperately needed for the environment.

Dr Kaye said: “The Keneally government needs to send a very clear message to the Tallowa Pipeline Company. Shoalhaven water is not for sale to the first get-rich-quick merchant who walks through the door with a scheme to send it off to the inland.”

Cl Findley said " Andrew Stoners comments are irresponsible and insensitive and show no thought for the people of Shoalhaven and our own quest for water security and environmental outcomes for the Shoalhaven River. Our population is projected to rise and Sydney Water will not hesitate to resume pumping if the circumstances present low dam levels."

Clr Findley was shocked to discover that Cobar council was taking the Evans and Peck proposal seriously and requesting that it be taken further up the governance chain.

" Any government who would support such a radical, extreme and expensive project should not be in government. Andrew Stoner needs to tell us if his statements about Tallowa were made with this pipeline project in mind."


 “The proposal would inflict yet more damage on the Shoalhaven downstream from Tallowa Dam. It would starve the river of essential flows in flood times and lead to even more sand and silt build up.

“Losing 300 GL a year would be an environmental disaster for the Shoalhaven, taking away what’s left of the flood flows that clean and rejuvenate the river.

“The Tallowa to Basin pipeline would condemn inland populations to periods of devastating water shortages. Because it supposedly only pumps out water that would otherwise spill, it would leave Yass and the other towns with no water inflows in dry years, depending only on their local storages.

“The Keneally government should consign this proposal to the waste bin, along with hundreds of other previous pitches to pump the waters inland.

“The proponents want to cream off a profit from building the pipeline without bringing anything new to the table.

“The solutions to the problems of the Murray-Darling basin will not be resolved by stealing a few hundred gigalitres from the Shoalhaven each year. Most of the water would disappear into dry river beds and would do add little to environmental flows or irrigation,” Dr Kaye said.