Dim Pete's "Wet Dream"

2507 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by rawprawn, Jul 5, 2006

hairymick

Discussion Starter · Jun 5, 2006

Hi guys,

This isn't in relation to yet another marine park and I doubt our southern members are even aware of it - yet.

Our Queensland government has just announced that it intends to build a 660,000 megalitre dam on the Mary River near Gympie. the reasons claimed are to provide water for the booming area of SE Qld. basically the area between Nambour and the Gold Coast.

This dam will flood some of the most fertile and productive farming land in South East Queensland and force nearly 900 farming families from their land.

That is the immediate consequence and is bad enough in its own right. but it gets much worse. If this Dam goes ahead, it will effectively stop the Mary from flowing - ever (IMHO) The Mary is the only major river to feed into the Great Sandy Straights so the impacts will be wide and far reaching, and I believe has the potential to decimate biodiversity within the entire area. - All to allow bloody developers to make even more money.

Full details of this bloody thing and the appalling way in which it has been handled by our government can be read here

http://www.econews.org.au/

here is another example of how this small, productive rural cummunity has been treated by our government,

http://econews.org.au/story2_5a.php

You guys who have read some of my earlier posts will know that I am no screaming greenie but I am with em on this one. I am hopping mad about this and intend to make my local MP well and truly aware of my feelings.

If Beattie wants more water for the Brisbane area, build more stinking dams in the Brisbane area.

More food for thought, I have heard a rumour that SE Qld has been earmarked as a site for a nuclear power station. I know nothing about physics but have been told that such a plant requires an awfull lot of fresh water. Am I being paranoid here? or is all of this a coincidence?

I would urge all members, in particular, all Queensland members to read the relevent articles in this greenie newspaper and be aware of the facts before the governments spin doctors come up with even more smoke and mirrors.

For the record, I am not alligned with any particular political party. The opinions I have expressed here in are my own and I am prepared to stand by them.

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HiRAEdd

· #2 · Jun 5, 2006

It's very unlike me but I hadn't actually considered the down stream effects of this dam. Now that you point it out, it's completely obvious how great the effect will be on the Great Sandy Straits if there is no river feeding into it. The annoying part about this is the government has a Hydrology lab that can make scale models of entire basins and run rivers, floods, whatever through them to see what happens. Yet it's never done often enough.
I wonder what effect this lack of flow, sediment and nutrients into the straits and Harvey Bay will have. Considering Stradbroke, Moreton and Fraser Islands are all the result of sand from the Clarence River being taken north with northern drift, it makes me wonder what similar effects are felt - and would be lost - by the GBR, etc. by the termination of flow from the Mary River.

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FishFinder

· #3 · Jun 8, 2006

One other concern here is that this particular spot is not even in the rain catchment area. :? :? Well least thats what the old man reckons and he is an old farmer so i tend to listen. The obvious efects on river systems is already obvious throughout se qld. What river systems!!!!!!!!!!!!! A lot have little or no water now. :evil: :evil: :evil: The unfortunate thing is the minority can do *!#&all about it. One would hope that there is a future for our following generations. What ever happened to the 50's.

(aside from the obvious) :wink:

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PeterJ

· #4 · Jul 5, 2006

Typical governments hairy, do it in someone elses back yard wether they want it or not. Who cares if it's the wrong thing for the environment .

If anything you can take heart from the way the snowy mountains hydro sale was stopped , totally due to people power.

There is a chance to stop it .

As for the Nuclear power stations consumption how does 33 billion litres per day sound :shock: Thats what the bigguns use in the U.S
However i reckon it would be a flow through system , but the water has to be there in the first place.

You can see why they would want to do it as for every 1lb of brown coal that is burnt it only needs something like .000008 lb of 4% enriched uranium and it more than likely costs the same to mine so when you add that all up it becomes very cheap to make nuke power ( basic power production, not the associated costs with extra maintenance,building etc) just the problems that stem from that is the bad thing.

Remember Chernobyl ( but just a point there, the reactor was not built in a containment building , it was open to the outside)
Thats another debate though :roll:

I would be very suspicious as to what the real motive was for the dam, once it's there , what else would they put there later on. :?:

Phew, thats a deep one for the 1,000 th eh

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hairymick

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 5, 2006

G'day Peter,

Congratulations on the big 1000th post mate

You have raised some very good points IMHO.

Beattie has gone to pains to state that nuke power is not on his agenda and being the politician that he is - of course I believe him - not.

Even taking his argument on face value, and I quote him here, "It is necessary that a few must suffer so that the many may benifiet" I would respond by saying bullsh!t!!!

How can displacing 900 families farming some of the most fertile and productive land in South East Queensland possibly justify even more urban sprawl somewhere else. The reality is that if there is not enough water in an area to support the pupulation, it is unethical to develop it further and then expect another region to foot the bill.

If every house in Brisbane (and surrounds) had a 10000 gallon rainwater tank that supplimented that housholds needs, Brisbanes population could double without the need for further damming.

Our water supply has been privatised and these coorporations are in the business of selling us more water. Of course they want an unlimited supply. I believe we are in a water crisis because these coorporations have engineered it to be so. The basterds don't want us to be a little independent of their supply.

I believe the environmental damage caused down stream from this dam is viewed by the government as collaterol damage only and they are reluctand to even consider it. A claim has even been made by the local state member for Hervey Bay, the Honourable Andrew Mcnamara that the Mary will still retain 80% of its orginal flow. I would ask where he gets his figures. If a mega-dam is built in a river's headwaters and the bulk of it water is pumped out of it to somewhere else - at an astonishing rate. Where is this flow going to come from?

Sorry to rave on here guys but this is a crisis of the magnitude of the damming the Franklin was years ago and will set a very dangerous precedent in this country. If this is allowed to go ahead, please consider this. Every major city in this country is facing similar problems. Who is to say your own back yard wont be next?

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rawprawn

· #6 · Jul 5, 2006

Welcome to the future. Our economy requires growth so our lifestyles can remain sustainable. Growth requires more people. More People require more resources. More resources require more of our environment.

Where will it end? Personally IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d sacrifice much of my lifestyle if it meant living in a less crowded, healthier environment. Unfortunately IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m in the minority and most still want their plasma tele, two cars, private schools, trips to the snow every year etc etc. One day they wake up and say hey this isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t such a nice place to live anymore let move to QLD.

Question is when QLDs trashed where will they move next?

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