Fresh bid for Valley water

The Clarence River.

Daily Examiner

Poll

Should Clarence water go west?

This poll ended on 28 February 2010.

Yes

39%

No

60%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

THE push is on again to have water from the Clarence River diverted west.

This time the move has come from members of the Murray Darling Association (MDA) and is being supported by several councils within division six of the association.

It appears that members of division six have lobbied a number of constituent councils calling on them to support a motion to the annual meeting of the Murray Darling Association, to be held in September, asking that 'the Federal Government re-examine the question of the Clarence River Diversion Study relative to water flows through the Murray Darling system'.

The Coorong District Council in South Australia's south-east was told the proposal would involve the construction of a headwater dam on the Clarence River, with a 22-kilometre tunnel under the Gibraltar Range.

“This tunnel would emerge on the Murray Darling Basin side of the ranges and feed into the Beardy River, then the McIntyre River and ultimately into the (Murray Darling) basin,” the report said.

“The Clarence River is like most east coast rivers in that it is very short, with a high volume discharge into the sea during high volume events.”

The report to councillors said benefits of the scheme would include:

• The capacity of the dams would have a storage ability approaching that of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

• The capacity of the headwater storage would provide flood control to the Clarence Valley.

• The diversion would only require 24 per cent of the total maximum storage volume to provide similar volumes of water to the basin as the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

• No pumping of water is required - the entire scheme would be gravity fed.

• The generation of hydroelectricity is another major benefit.

Councillor Frank Tuckwell, of the Alexandrina Council in South Australia, told fellow councillors the MDA had been calling for an investigation for close to 30 years.

“Now more than ever it is important that this proposal be put into the political field again,” he said.

Member for Page Janelle Saffin said the councils were wasting their time. She said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had made an 'iron clad' guarantee before the 2007 election that Labor would not allow any diversion of the Clarence River.

She said she could understand the councils' desperation but diverting the Clarence was not a solution. “They should not waste their energy, their money or their time on this,” she said. “They can take it to Her Majesty, but it is not going to go anywhere.”

Clarence River Professional Fishermen's Association spokesman John Harrison said diverting the Clarence to the west would not solve the problems of over allocation of water that had caused the problems in the Murray Darling.