This letter was written in response to The Hon Bob Katter MP's comments in this article, published in the Townsville Bulletin. We immediately responded with this open letter, from which some statements were published about a week later. You can read the printed article here. 

Dear Bob,

Contrary to your recent claims that North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC) represents the people of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and that we’ve “never set foot off a pavement”, we have more in common than you think.

Responsible water conservation is more critical than ever to help prevent catastrophic droughts and bushfires. For information and advice relating to responsible water conservation, we encourage you to explore the resources below.

This contains reports on the water security for Townsville and on dam operation and stability, in particular for Burdekin Falls and Paradise Dams.

Burdekin Falls Dam – Testing the Boundary of Hydrology. 8 pages (2009)
Authors: Ayre, B., Gillespie, S. 
Link: https://www.ancold.org.au/?product=2009-burdekin-falls-dam-testing-the-boundary-of-hydrology
[NOTE: technical paper describing weaknesses in BFD design and need for the Dam Improvement Project]

Burdekin Falls – Dam Improvement Project
Author: SunWater

Paradise dam – Commission of inquiry - Report. (572 pages) April 2020
Author: Queensland Government: DNRME
Link: https://paradisedaminquiry.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PDCOI-Report-April-2020_Web-accessible.pdf

Townsville water security – final report. 20 pages (2018)
Authors: Brad Webb, chair: Townsville Water Security Task Force
Link: https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/ehq-production-australia/f66726f0fc1aeaac9d30886908766e3bde1b786c/documents/attachments/000/091/919/original/TWST_Final_Report_LOW_RES_-_30.09.2018.pdf?1541629347

Stage 2 Haughton Pipeline Project - detailed business case. 240 pages (2019)
Authors: Jacobs for Dept of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities
Link: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/cities/city-deals/townsville/files/final-stage-2-haughton-pipeline-dbc.pdf

The Burdekin Basin supports a range of landscapes and communities, and activities such as agriculture, fishing and recreation. 

Should they proceed, the numerous dam proposals along the Burdekin could threaten the long-term health of the river, as well as the internationally important, Ramsar-listed wetlands of Bowling Green Bay and the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Urannah Dam, Hells Gates Dam and the expansion of the Burdekin Falls Dam could together contribute to increased turbidity (dirtiness) of the Burdekin River, rising water tables (and associated threats to agricultural production) in the Lower Burdekin, the erosion of Cape Bowling Green due to sediment starvation, and increased nutrient flows to the Great Barrier Reef.

There is a lot of research and information available covering these topics of concern, and we have listed some useful resources on this page. 

We aim to raise awareness of the risks associated with multiple, large-scale dam proposals and work with policy-makers, stakeholders and North Queensland communities to ensure the best outcomes for people, industry and the environment. We are working to prevent the Burdekin River from becoming the next Murray-Darling.

Updates

• July 2021: The Terms of Reference for the Environmental Impact Statement for Big Rocks Weir have been released.
• June 2021: Looking for a win-win on the Burdekin - an abstract by John Connell
• May 2021: Erosion of Cape Bowling Green - an overview
• May 2021: Running Our Rivers Dry - a letter published in the Townsville Bulletin
• March 2021: Swimming for Our Rivers - a fundraiser to support our Rivers campaign
• March 2021: Burdekin River Sustainability in Focus on World Water Day - a media release
• December 2020: Mayor McLaughlin on Burdekin Catchment Damming - an article from the Townsville Bulletin
• Click here to see the latest updates and all previous blog posts relating to this campaign. 

• This document was prepared by Dr Eric Wolanski and John Connell, and provides a summary of some of the environmental issues facing the Burdekin Basin, with a focus on the erosion of Cape Bowling Green.
• Check out the Productivity Commission webinar (02/03/2021) on National Water Reform 2020 here.
• Read our submission on the National Water Reform draft report here.
• Read our latest submissions on the Burdekin Falls Dam Raising Project and the Urannah Dam Project here. 

Resources

Dam Proposals and Feasibility Studies

Environmental Studies

Seminar: Ensuring a Viable Burdekin Basin (14 Sept 2020)

Media

Correspondence

Water Security and Dam Stability

There are active proposals for a total of four new dams/weirs on the Burdekin: Hells Gates Dam (HGD); Big Rocks Weir, raising of the Burdekin Falls Dam and Urannah Dam. The cumulative effect of the additional water extraction of these will have a disastrous impact on the health of the Burdekin and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. Impacts include:

a) turning the Burdekin turbid for 12 months of the year below the dams (in the case of the HGD - for 270km or 52% of the Burdekin length), affecting all aquatic life in the river.

b) increased rise of the water table and salination in the Lower Burdekin Irrigation Areas, threatening established crop production.

c) sediment starvation and erosion of Cape Bowling Green (CBG). Breaching of CBG would radically affect Bowling Green Bay, and potentially affect the coastal communities of Cungalla and Jerona.

d) increased nutrient flows to the GBR from additional areas of agriculture. This would further intensify the existing threat to GBR water quality, reef health and biodiversity.

NQCC first raised concerns on the proposal for the Hells Gates Dam in October 2016 and again in November 2019. The Feasibility Study (2018) showed that irrigated agriculture in the proposed areas would not be economic for farmers, and yet a further $24M has been granted for a detailed Business Case Study.

In early 2020, NQCC formed the Burdekin Basin Sub-Committee which has;

a) studied a wide range of reports and academic studies;

b) conducted field visits to inspect sensitive sites (e.g. Cape Bowling Green erosion);

c) hosted a high-level seminar attended by a range of stakeholders (local councils, irrigators, fishing industry and environmental agencies) which covered issues in all areas of the Burdekin Basin;

d) made a submission to the Coordinator General for a coordinated approach to assessing proposals for water extraction and longer-term management of the Burdekin Basin.

This web page brings the results of this work together for all agencies and individuals with responsibilities and concerns for sustainable water management in the Burdekin, and in Australia more generally. The site will be updated as additional information and progress in activities becomes available.

You can read our most recent updates on our blog, and we recommend reading what Queensland Conservation Council has to say about it as well.  You can also read our full review here. 

There is no need for the Hells Gates Dam and it makes no sense! When Townsville faced a water crisis several years ago, all sorts of suggestions were made about the best way to secure a water supply for Townsville. The Hells Gates Dam was suggested by many as the way to guarantee water supply for Townsville, but we disagree.

The upper reaches of Ross Dam in November 2014

Between them, the very low level of Ross Dam, TCC's water restrictions (currently Level 3) and the continuing lack of rain focused unprecedented attention on Townsville's water security from 2015 onwards and particularly from 2016 after the city recorded its driest-ever year in 2015 (2016 was not much better). It seems that most people realise there is no single solution - that we will have to approach the problem on several fronts to fix it - but there is little agreement on priorities.

NQCC

NQCC published four blog posts under the heading NQCC Water Security Series towards the end of 2016:

• Part 1: Townsville Water Discussion Paper (Gail Hamilton)
• Part 2: Water Wonderland or Pipe Dreams? (Vern Veitch, re Hell's Gate Dam)
• Part 3: Hell’s Gate Dam Forum (Maree Dibella for NQCC)
• Part 4: How will climate change affect Townsville’s water security? (Malcolm Tattersall)

A Case For a Floating Solar Farm in Townsville’s Ross River Dam (Elly Hanrahan) is not nominally part of the series but follows naturally from it.

This study on the viability of a Floating Solar Farm on the Ross Dam is a guest post by Elly Hanrahan, an intern for the North Queensland Conservation Council. All views expressed are the author's and not necessarily those of the NQCC.

Townsville is currently experiencing its driest 11-month period since records began in 1841. With no action on water security from any level of government, desperate residents have formed the newly created Facebook group called ‘Water For Townsville Action Group’ in order to come up with a plan to secure Townsville’s water supply into the future.

Welcome to the final Paperbark for 2016! This month, we are welcoming an intern – Elly Hanrahan, who is studying a Bachelor of Advanced Environmental Science and Global Challenges (Honours). Elly is already proving to be a strong member of our team and is doing great work helping out with campaigns.

In this issue: Mr Adani Visits Townsville – Townsville Port Expansion – Hinchinbrook Island National Park Management Plan – Queensland Environment Roundtable – Postcard Exhibition 2017 - and more!

This, the fourth post in our water security series, began as a response to the first of them, the Townsville Water Discussion Paper, and addresses an issue which none of the first three looked at. Parts 2 and 3 are here and here. This is a guest post by Malcolm Tattersall. Once again, views expressed are the author’s, not those of NQCC. 

When I read Gail Hamilton’s post six weeks ago I agreed with nearly all of it but noticed a gap which was potentially important, i.e. the impact of climate change on our water security: the ‘Regional Water Supply Security Assessment’ from the Department of Water and Energy Supply (2014) (pdf here), upon which she relied for her ‘current situation’ section, didn’t consider climate change effects at all.

That seemed quite odd to me since we know that climate change is with us already on a global level – that most of the hottest years on record have occurred this century, that desertification is a key driver of conflicts in the Middle East, and that sea level rise is drowning low-lying islands and threatening major cities around the world. Some of us have also been feeling, on a much more local and personal level, that Townsville has been having weaker Wet seasons and hotter summers than ever before, and I happened to know, because I looked at it recently, that Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) data backs up our feelings.

Another busy month at NQCC! November will be another eventful month, with Maree attending the Environment Roundtables with other Queensland enviro groups, NQCC hosting an intern, and our unmissable trivia night on the 19th – don’t forget to purchase your tickets!

In this issue: Townsville Port expansion – radioactive contamination at Ben Lomond – Adani ‘critical infrastructure’ – Hell’s Gate Dam forum wrap-up – fisheries reform – Marine Park review – Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement – NQCC’s trivia night – EOI for 2017 postcard exhibition.