Murrumbidgee Valley Food and Fibre Association (MVFFA) is appalled to learn that Snowy Hydro has been releasing water ostensibly as part of its environmental flow obligations that can only have exacerbated the current flood crisis.
This bureaucratic incompetence was uncovered by Dr Jennifer Marohasy and detailed in her article published by Quadrant on Saturday.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/12/bureaucratic-flood-damage
After ringing up to ask a genuine question, she was given the most amazing “run around” by the water bureaucracies.
MVFFA can confirm that similar questions have been asked by several of its members and they have also been stonewalled.
“We all knew that something was not right up there in the mountains but we couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone”, said Mrs. Christine O’Callaghan, Public Officer for MVFFA.
“I have been trying to ring the two separate departments for over a week and could only get to those nice women who answer the phones. I have left messages for both David Harris (Snowy Hydro Limited) and David Harriss (NSW Office of Water).
“I was asking the same questions that Dr Marohasy was asking.”
“It is very fortunate for all of us that Dr Marohasy recognized that something was odd about the answers she was given and that she was tenacious enough and concerned enough to get to the bottom of it” said Mrs Debbie Buller, President. “At least we now have some answers.”
“MVFFA calls for an immediate cessation of all environment flows into all catchments downstream from the Snowy Hydro System.
“They are sending out water into dams that can’t store it, into river systems which are in major flood, through environmental assets which are already flooded.”
“There is not one ounce of common sense or sensible water management here”, said Mrs Robyn Schmetzer, Treasurer.
“Why on earth aren’t they diverting every single drop possible into Lake Eucumbene to help alleviate the flood crisis?
“Eucumbene is the central reservoir in the Snowy system and is only 25% full, leaving a huge storage potential.
“The Snowy system was built to not only generate power but also as a storage system to help manage the excesses of our variable climate.”
Media enquiries to Debbie Buller on 0414374312
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.