Wollondilly welcomes ditching of plan to raise dam wall

Wollondilly Shire Council and Mayor Matt Gould have  welcomed the NSW Labor Government’s decision to scrap plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall.

The government has announced it will not proceed with the project, taking into consideration the huge costs and environmental and heritage concerns.

Wollondilly Council says these are the same concerns it has been highlighting for years in opposing the plan to raise the wall by 14 metres.

“This is a huge win for the Wollondilly Shire, the Burragorang Valley and the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, and particularly for our indigenous heritage and endangered species,” says Mayor Gould.

“The area that would have been inundated as a consequence of the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall is almost entirely located within the Wollondilly Local Government Area, so the scrapping of this plan will help us protect our biodiversity and cultural heritage for future generations.

“This is a massive relief for the people of Warragamba and the wider Wollondilly community as well, who will not have to deal with the impacts of construction and heavy vehicle movements throughout the Shire for this project,’’ he said.

“We knew that the raising of the wall would not guarantee that communities in Western Sydney would be safe from flood events and commend the NSW Labor Government for its commitment to building levies and improving evacuation routes and emergency communications in the Hawkesbury-Nepean.

“We are pleased to see that the government is planning to a lower the maximum water level of the dam, creating a flood mitigation zone without needing to raise the wall; another one of the measures that we have been calling for.”

The project would have potentially cost $2 billion and would have put the Blue Mountains World Heritage listing at risk and damaged habitat for endangered species such as the Regent Honey Eater as well as Aboriginal sites and artefacts, with opposition to the plan also supported by UNESCO.