A ‘politician’s promise’ that the problem of excessive water charges may potentially be solved if a hypothetical dam enlargement happens in the next 15 years is not worth the paper that it is written on. 

Irrigators have been battling for a resolution to the problem for at least the last 15 years, and we need a resolution NOW.

In his first speech to Parliament on this topic on 30th May 2017, (and referred to in the Northern Daily Leader on 7th June), Mr Anderson stated that ‘The latest potential solution involves the upgrade of Dungowan Dam’. 

Well, yes - a new dam at Dungowan would be nice, but it has not been approved, not costed, not funded, not designed – and nobody knows yet whether it will even be feasible. 

Consequently, there is no start date for construction for the dam, no finish date, no clarity as to who will own the dam, nor who will pay for the dam, nor who will pay the water usage charges, nor what those charges will be. 

And if there is a change of either the State or Commonwealth Governments, the proposed dam may never go ahead. 

Realistically, even if all the stars align, an upgraded Dungowan Dam is at least 15 years away, and to suggest that the potential upgrade of Dungowan Dam is the solution to today’s current problem of excessive water usage charges in the Peel Valley is just pure fantasy.

But let’s imagine for a moment that all the stars do actually align, and Dungowan Dam is upgraded. 

The stated objective of the upgrade is to provide an alternative water source for Tamworth Regional Council to Chaffey Dam. 

So if Dungowan Dam is enlarged and Tamworth Regional Council then transfers part or all of it’s High Security licence from Chaffey Dam to Dungowan Dam, the only other available stakeholder to pay Council’s existing share of the Chaffey Dam costs is the Peel Valley irrigators. 

Mr Anderson is well aware that irrigators cannot access any additional water from the Peel River under the Water Sharing Plan. 

Therefore, the end result of an upgrade to Dungowan Dam could be that Peel Valley irrigators may finish up paying even higher water usage charges if Dungowan Dam is upgraded, and not receive access to any additional water. 

Or is it possible that there is another agenda at play here?

Surely Mr Anderson would have received detailed financial projections on this ‘potential solution’ before he made his speech to Parliament, and perhaps he should now disclose exactly how he envisages that an upgrade to Dungowan Dam is a ‘potential solution’ to the current excessive water usage charges in the Peel Valley.

Mr Anderson’s speech also included the statement that ‘we are getting closer to fixing this problem’. 

On the contrary, before Mr Anderson was elected a Private Member’s Bill had already been introduced to Parliament which would have solved the pricing problem in the Peel Valley, but that Bill lapsed when the previous Government was prorogued. 

There is no evidence that ‘we are getting closer to fixing the problem’, and unless Mr Anderson has some new information that he has not yet shared with his electorate, then I suggest that we are actually further away from fixing the problem now than when Mr Anderson was elected.

Ildu Monticone

Dungowan

Peel Valley irrigator