The recent local council elections have resulted in the appointment of new councillors to Rous County Council (RCC), and these councillors just voted to revive the option of building a new dam at Dunoon to add to our region’s water supply.
As a member of the public I served for two years in RCC’s consultation group with regard to its Future Water Strategy. The decision to shelve the Dunoon Dam proposal was based on the research and evidence that was put into the various options under consideration. Now I feel obliged to ask; ‘What credibility do the new Rous Councillors give Rous Water when they are ignoring and discounting the years of consultation and work that went into the Future Water Strategy – in good faith – that it would produce the best outcomes for the region?’
The Dunoon Dam is, in the long term, the most expensive option for ratepayers, the means of destroying a precious environment that supports one of the State’s few healthy koala populations; the cause of further destruction to First Nations’ heritage and well-being, and; being on the same waterway as the Rocky Creek Dam, it limits the diversity, sustainability and resilience of the region’s ability to supply water well into the future.
Yet it would appear that the new Councillors are unwilling to see the flaws in building this dam [a conclusion] that was arrived at after the years of consultation with many experts and the public, that came before their appointment.
What is the point of having a body such as RCC, and all the past work done, if their decisions bend or break according to the changing political whims of its councillors every few years? Surely the region’s water strategy should be above politics, and should be decided on the basis of all the work that was done in the past!
Good on you, Jill. The research was ‘clear & correct.’ The current playing-at-political gain is
a sell-out. Lies & more ‘dam’ lies.