It looks like common sense may prevail.
>From todays Courier Mail
The proposed $1.7 billion Traveston Crossing Dam near Gympie has been dismissed
as "neither necessary nor desirable" by a panel of experts.
The 100-page Review of Water Supply-Demand Options for South-East Queensland
released today warned the dam would not ease the impact of the drought and was
unnecessary for providing future supply.
It warned the dam proposal represented a "high total cost, high unit cost, high
risk and high environmental and social impact option".
The $130,000 report, launched in Gympie today, was commissioned by the Mary
River Council of Mayors, which was convened last year in an attempt to stop the
dam.
It is the work of seven leading consultants from engineering company Cardno and
the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at the University of Sydney.
The report recognised the need for long-term water management and acknowledged
a "diverse portfolio of options" was necessary to ensure the continued
availability of drinking water.
However, it concluded the dam should not be among those options.
"A clear conclusion of this study is that the proposed dam at Traveston
Crossing on the Mary River is neither necessary nor desirable as a part of the
portfolio for ensuring supply security to 2050," the report said.
"The increase in supply from this proposed dam will not assist in the short
term during the current severe drought and is not needed for supply-demand
balance in the longer term."
The report found that water from the dam would cost almost three times as much
as other water supply options.
Australian Democrats deputy leader Senator Andrew Bartlett said today that he
would renew his call for the state government to scrap the "wasteful proposal".
"(Premier Peter Beattie) needs to be sensible now and ditch the dam option for
Traveston Crossing and look at other measures," he said.
"Savings from stopping the dam could go into repairing our ageing and
unreliable infrastructure, and encouraging water saving measures such as
installing rainwater tanks to aid self-sufficiency."
The Senate is set to debate a motion on setting up an inquiry into the dam on
Monday.
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