Farms fear dam plan
WHILE Townsville residents pin their hopes on Stage Two of the Burdekin Dam solving the water crisis, Burdekin farmers fear it will drive up costs.
Home Hill grower Kent Fowler says while Stage Two, which involves raising the dam wall in order to increase storage above the dam’s existing 1.8 million megalitres, has been talked about in general terms, no one has mentioned what the impact might be on downstream irrigators.
He said prices for irrigation water were already too high and paying for the cost of elevating the dam wall and carrying out all of the associated infrastructure works could see water prices for farmers increase by as much as 50 per cent.
Mr Fowler said water along with the cost of paying for the electricity to pump it around farms was a serious cost burden.
Mr Fowler irrigates from an aquifer which he said was deteriorating in quality.
He said alkalinity was increasing due to the infrequent inundation of the floodplain which used to top up the aquifer.
“Before the dam was built you’d have those regular floods that spread out over the floodplain and put water into the aquifer. Since the dam was built in the 1980s the water that used to spread out over the floodplain is now held back by the wall. It still happens, but not very often,” he said.
“This is why the underground water is decreasing in quality. It is not getting that regular recharge from the river that it used to get.”
He said raising the dam wall even further would add to the problems.
Mr Fowler said he was about to build a 1.3km pipeline from the Warren’s Gully irrigation channel to his farm.
Mr Fowler said there needed to be an explanation from the State Government about water pricing and how it might be impacted by Stage Two.
But there are no guarantees at this stage that any works to raise the dam wall will even take place. The Department of State Development is in the process of undertaking a prefeasibility study of Stage Two, but the Townsville Bulletin understands that this is a ‘ small- scale’ study.
David Sartori, executive officer at Lower Burdekin Water, the independent statutory body responsible for the replenishment of the aquifer, said his organisation had received no information from the Government about Stage Two and was not in a position to discuss water pricing. He said Lower Burdekin Water would continue to focus on diverting surface water from the Burdekin River.