TILLEGRA DAM

Councillors

I have invited Ken Rubeli to address the workshop and to help Council develop a position statement/ policy statement that the Council can communicate publicly and hopefully raise the profile of this project within our community. The articles that Ken has produced since the announcement in November 2006 really do ask the questions of Hunter Water, the State Government and the broader community of the .

Ken is committed to confidentiality in relation to his working with the Council and he asked me to convey his commitment to you in this regard.

The Williams River will be transformed as a consequence of the Tillegra Dam, the arguments about the impact of climate change and securing the water future of the Hunter must really be questioned when despite prevailing drought conditions in recent years no water restrictions were imposed across the Hunter Water supply scheme.

Yet the level of re-cycling of water for business and non-residential use throughout the Hunter Water Supply only accounts for 4%, highlights that water conservation has not been a high priority. The introduction of user pays water may well have lessened demand by consumers for water but the level of promotion of and utilization of re-cycled water within industry is minimal to say the least. Is the price of water too cheap for large water users? The questions are being asked by some members of the community but they are in the minority.

As I stated at the community meeting back in February, the announcement by the Premier effectively undermines one of the key elements within the Charter that is vested in Council and that is “To properly manage, develop, protect, restore, enhance and conserve the environment of the area for which it is responsible, in a manner that is consistent with and promotes the principles of ecologically sustainable development”.

But also within the Charter is for the Council to exercise community leadership.

Council needs to formalise our way forward in relation to the Tillegra Dam proposal. The debate concerning the Dam has matured and the recent statements made by Minister Rees highlights that the State Government is intent on pushing the Dam through.

However if that is the intent of the Government then the underlying question is at what cost to our community?

The recent meeting attended with the No Tillegra Dam group was positive from a number of areas from my perspective, the members heard from several of the councillors in attendance as regards their opinions and hopefully understand my position in relation to the Dam is the need to think strategically as regards the potential ramifications that a development of this nature will have on our community if it does proceed.

From the NTDG perspective their stance is as strong as ever however amongst members of the group it was evident that if the Dam does proceed then they want to know what is our community going to get out of it?

I have made the offer for the Group to meet with Councils senior staff to discuss the outcomes of their investigations as it is important that staff have the appropriate contacts as we develop the range of issues which we (Council and the community at large) want Hunter Water to address when we attend the planning focus meeting.

It must be emphasised that Council will only have one chance at this and it cannot be stressed enough that the window of opportunity is only open for a very short period of time. Our issues need to be comprehensive and reflective of all the issues of our community.

Workshop Paper – Tillegra Dam

This was again stressed to Warwick Thomas on 6 September 2007 during a meeting with Mr Kavanagh and myself as it is important that Council is aware of the issues associated with this project from the NTDG perspective. They have engaged a number of experts to support their statements in the media and their concerns need to be adequately addressed by Hunter Water. Whilst they may appear to be a thorn in the side of Hunter Water they are asking the big picture questions of a public authority in relation to transparency and accountability as ultimately through this project it will be the end user who will pay for this piece of infrastructure.

At the meeting the other night there was emphasis placed upon the Council in making a policy statement in relation to the Dam. As the mayor again re-iterated to those present is that Hunter Water has to justify the need for this Dam.

In essence Council should now be elaborating on this and clearly expressing to the community our stance. A policy statement from the Council is what members of the community are looking for, they are looking for the Council to show leadership and they want to know what stance the Council will take. This alone may awaken the community to the issues as to be perfectly honest the level of public attendance at the community meetings from Planning Workshop would have to be rated very low.

So what is Councils position? As the General Manager I am required to implement the policy of the Council and to assist the Councillors in the development of policy that reflects the sentiment of the Council and the community.

Some Councillors have expressed their opposition to the Dam openly and the Council has to start making noises in relation to this Dam we cannot afford to just roll-over because if we do our community will gain no benefits from this Dam should it proceed. The State Government will profit just like they are doing with Railcorp at Martins Creek Quarry.

Is Councils actual position in relation to the Dam more like:

“That until Hunter Water can justify the need for the Dam; Dungog Shire Council is opposed to the Dams construction.”

Or is it more like

“The NSW State Government announced that Hunter Water is to construct Tillegra Dam, Dungog Shire Council is opposed to the Dams construction until Hunter Water can demonstrate the need for Dam and the State Government provides our communities with improved infrastructure that would support a development of this nature without risk to the general public and that will not be detrimental to the future sustainability of our community.”

A suggested statement was read out to the NTDG meeting on 17 August 2007 which is attached several individuals attempted to also massage the words, Ken is working on such and will provide additional input to the workshop on the day.

It is time for the Council to make a stand one way or the other. I find it absolutely ludicrous that this Council has to constantly jump through the same hoops time and again when we want to access State Ministers, it highlights that the State Government is not concerned about what happens to Dungog Shire. Lets be certain about that as the Minister responsible for Hunter Water has been the only Minister from the sitting Labor government to visit our LGA since the announcement, not even the Minister for the Hunter has made an attempt to travel one hour north of his Newcastle office.

From a strategic planning perspective our local government area is meant to sit within one of the regional strategies that are meant to guide development into the future. Councillors may recall the discussion papers from late last year in relation to integrated planning and reporting which were issued by the Department of Local Government that emphasises the Workshop Paper – Tillegra Dam importance of strategic planning and the inter-relationship between Councils LEP and our strategic plan/management plan/community & social plan and their correlation to the regional planning strategy and the strategic regional plans that are being developed by a number of State Government agencies.

At this point in time we are not even on the map for a regional planning strategy so is development ever going to happen or is the Shire of Dungog just going to fade away? Many people say that we are fortunate not being within a regional strategy but it is clear that arguments for government funding can be much stronger if the Council can actually point to a document and lobby on the basis of what is the written projections of a government agency. This point needs to be made very clear to State Government as we are constantly having to deal with State agencies that make reference to regional strategies for which at this point in time do not exist for Dungog Shire.

With Hunter Water currently in the media defending the Tillegra Dam their recent publication Why Tillegra Now? Highlights the cart before the horse mentality, why wasn’t this document “Securing our Water Future” put out for public input prior to the Dam announcement. Within the executive summary on Page 4 the document states “Whilst these demand management initiatives will deliver significant efficiencies into the future, demand for water will continue to grow, with 160,000 new people expected to be living in the region by 2030 in 115,000 new dwellings and the corresponding growth in non-residential water demand.”

The document has flaws within such and highlights how little work was done prior to the Tillegra Dam announcement, the impacts as listed within Appendix A are extremely minimalist and if that has been the approach of Hunter Water to justify the Dam then they have failed in my opinion.

It is important that when the planning focus workshop is called by NSW Planning that Council can lay on the table all the issues that Council and the community want addressed as opposed to being glossed over and more importantly that Council and the community collectively demand that the State Government deliver on the provision of infrastructure and services to our community.

With the lodgement of their submission to Planning NSW now imminent it is important that Council ensures that all the issues that we need addressed are documented. The community has in the majority been silent with very few articles within the media and very few letters to Council the exception to this has been members of the NTDG who as individuals all have a passion for the Williams River.

The Tillegra Dam Community Reference Group has been dealing with a number of issues through their meetings that relate as much to the community directly impacted upon within the area. Whilst the CRG has a broad cross-section of community representatives the level of feed-back to the broader community appears to be totally reliant upon the dissemination of information by way of their minutes or inclusions within Hunter Waters advertising areas.

It is disappointing to note that the Hunter Water website within the publications/media element for Tillegra Dam has been inaccessible for the past fortnight and people cannot access information concerning the Dam or the CRG minutes. At this point in time when they should be disseminating information as broadly as possible the timing is disappointing. Representatives of Hunter Water informed us at a meeting back in January that their website was to undergo an upgrade and whilst the majority of the website is still accessible the Tillegra Dam component is ironically “under construction”!

Councillors it is now time to make a stand.

Craig Deasey GENERAL MANAGER

Workshop Paper – Tillegra Dam ATTACHMENT ‘A’

SUGGESTED POLICY STATEMENT FROM KEN RUBELI AS READ TO THE NO TILLEGRA DAM GROUP MEETING ON 17 AUGUST 2007.

Dungog Shire Councillors question the appropriateness of implementation of the Tillegra Dam on the following grounds:

1. There are many other measures that can be taken to ensure long-term water security for the region. The proposed Tillegra Dam is twenty times the capacity of the existing , more than doubling existing regional water supplies when we believe a much smaller augmentation would suffice.

2. The recent decision of the Gosford-Wyong Councils' Water Authority to opt for construction of the "missing link" pipeline between Mardi and Mangrove Creek Dams we believe dramatically diminishes the need for Tillegra Dam.

3. Alternatives exist for augmenting existing water storage - notably the Stage Three expansion of Grahamstown Reservoir (Hunter Water's favoured option as recently as October 2006) in conjunction with the agreed four additional water pumps at Balickera.

4. As population and industrialisation increases in the Lower Hunter and Central Coast, total demand for water can be held at or near present levels through progressive implementation of water-conservation technology, water recycling systems, water harvesting from rooftops and stormwater, attention to leakages, and price signals to encourage less wastage. Thus we believe a sustainable water management system can be assured without Tillegra Dam.

5. The upper Williams Valley can be managed primarily as a water catchment feeding water down the river to Seaham Weir and the Balickera pumps, while simultaneously supporting a prosperous local economy through diverse agriculture, forestry, camping and recreational activities, thus maintaining a sense of community in the valley, and ensuring continuing rate revenue to the Shire.

There remains however a clear determination by the NSW State Government to build Tillegra Dam. During the process of the appropriate environmental and geological studies and given the approval that the Dam will indeed proceed it is accepted it is Council's duty to work with the Government to achieve the best possible outcomes for the Shire and its people.

Workshop Paper – Tillegra Dam