Should we lower Warragamba Dam instead of raising it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQWxmR9g2V8 Last week Council met for the first time since the July floods. The Mayor advanced a motion that calls on the State Government to change legislation regulating the operation of Warragamba Dam to permit the Dam to be lowered in times of likely high-rainfall which will provide a degree of flood mitigation ability. I supported the motion, but I want…

On ABC Breakfast Radio about Warragamba Dam (again)

This morning I was interviewed on ABC Sydney's Breakfast show by James Valentine (whom, I recalled, I used to watch on the 'Afternoon Show' as a kid). The well-worn subject was whether to raise Warragamba Dam. I appeared before on the same subject in 2019.   Why the renewed interest? The release of a report by the IUCN - a UN environmental body, critical of the Government's EIS for the…

Make no mistake – raising Warragamba Dam will make our community safer

This morning, the opponents of flood safety in the Hawkesbury were falling upon a 'leaked' State Government report that stated something so obvious it's banal – that in the event of a major flood, the water has to go somewhere.   Their tortured argument says if Warragamba Dam is raised, providing a buffer against future floodwaters, then that water will need to be released progressively…

What are the facts about raising Warragamba Dam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6eIVAetywU In any given year, what are the risks of your house burning down, you getting sick, or you crashing your car? Low, I hope. These events have a low probability, but serious consequences. So we weigh the risk, and take out insurance. So it is with our floodplain. There have been 124 floods in the Hawkesbury-Nepean since the…

Interviewed on ABC Sydney Radio about Warragamba Dam

Overnight, former Labor politician Bob Debus addressed a gathering of UNESCO in Baku, Azerbaijan, to seek their support in opposing the raising of Warragamba Dam. This morning, ABC Sydney Radio asked to interview me to provide a response. Here's the audio. I repeat the argument I've made many, many, many, many, many times before.…

Hawkesbury Council should support the raising of Warragamba Dam

Warragamba Dam in 1960 Update: The result of the motion I put to Council is recounted here. Only last year, we commemorated the 150th anniversary of the worst flood since European settlement in the Hawkesbury district. We were reminded that, back in June 1867, an inland sea of swirling detritus 30km wide stretched from Riverstone to the foot of the Blue Mountains --  the result of only four…

Appearing on the ABC News about raising Warragamba Dam

I was pleased to be interviewed by the ABC today on the proposal to raise Warragamba Dam. This project will mitigate against the frequency and severity of floods in the Hawkesbury, and will save life and property. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGSFXq6Hvmo I'll have much more to say about this soon. Stay tuned.

The Hawkesbury River Flood of April 2024

A rare "rain bomb" again plunged the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and the communities that live and work along its banks into crisis between April 5-7, and another flood washed through the area.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LfvnBURFIo   Now the waters are subsiding, we have a sense of the scale of this flood compared to others occurring in 2021 and 2022. Date Flood…

Should development be allowed on our floodplain?

  Two stories appearing recently in the media criticise Hawkesbury Council for approving DA’s on flood-prone land. I have been flagging concerns over the statistical inevitability of another serious flood for a decade before my election to Council in 2016. My support for raising Warragamba dam has always been paired with a demand for more stringent controls on floodplain development.…

The Australian Local Government Assembly – What Hawkesbury can learn from a bigger picture, especially as it relates to natural disasters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGNnTV7AGxE   Just before the floods overtook us all, I attended the Australian Local Government Assembly (ALGA) down in Canberra, an annual conference that pulls together the 537 local governments around Australia. Our focus is the bigger picture of local government as it relates to the nation as a whole – a perspective that I believe my colleagues…

The Hawkesbury-Nepean flood of July 2022 – the worst since 1978

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li34fvWU5zw July 5th 2022 represented the worst day of flooding in the Hawkesbury in 44 years. This flood exceeded 13.93m, beating both the March flood (13.71m) and the 2021 flood (12.91m). You would have to go back to 1978 (14.5m) to see a worse flood. The 1867 flood was 19.6m. A "one in a hundred" flood is 17.3m, each measured at the Windsor gauge. I toured…

Sky News Australia special report into flooding on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btoFN1KSLAU As I have been saying for years, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River will flood again. It's a statistical certainty. I am heartened a major news outlet like Sky News Australia have recently run a four part investigative series on the subject in June 2022 on their Sky Weather channel. What they had to report should concern everyone in the…

The Hawkesbury-Nepean River Floods – March 2022

July 2022 update. It's flooding again. Again. I have been talking about flooding on the Hawkesbury-Nepean river for many many years. If you've arrived at this page as the result of a Google search, please consider these resources: • My more recent video and post about the July 2022 floods, with some very striking video • All my output on this website about flooding.  • My Facebook page, where…

Hawkesbury Council rejects critical flood safety measure – Again!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VToaYnz6DNM Our community has known we have to 'Live with the River' since the time of settlement. Our relationship with the river and the inevitability of floods mean we're forever torn between the blessings of rich soils and the river's deadlier moods. My own ancestor was killed in Windsor in the flood of 1809. But human ingenuity has given us the ability to…

Re-elect Councillor Nathan Zamprogno

Before you vote... A letter from Councillor Nathan Zamprogno Even if you vote Liberal or Labor, it is clear most people prefer Council to be above “party politics” – to be free to stand up to other tiers of Government when they try to impose growth, drive through highway projects, cost-shift to Councils, fail to invest in infrastructure, or impose unfair…

Raising awareness of the need for Hawkesbury-Nepean River Health

I was pleased to join the Federal MP for Lindsay, Melissa McIntosh as she hosted a visit to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River of the Federal Assistant Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Trevor Evans MP.The purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of river health, a responsibility I share as the Chairman of the Hawkesbury River County Council, which covers four Council areas and much of the river…

The Hawkesbury Floods, March 2021

Some times it must feel like our community can't cop a trick. Devastating fires, pandemic and two floods, all within a 16 month period. Yet again, out of the distress and destruction of property has arisen the real spirit of our local community, which has rallied magnificently. The response of our SES, Police and RFS have been truly heroic, and they deserve our respect, as do those who…

Hawkesbury Council fails a test of leadership on flood safety

I am disappointed that Council last night reversed the position it has held for decades, and declined to reaffirm its support for raising Warragamba Dam to provide flood mitigation to our valley, through the Notice of Motion I brought to the chamber. As I said last night, this issue is too important for it not to have bi-partisan support. The Mayor of the Hawkesbury, Councillor Mary…

A Google Earth Map of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River

In my role on Hawkesbury Council and the Hawkesbury River County Council, I've long sought a good visualisation of the entirety of the complete catchment of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, its feed-rivers, and a distinction between those parts of the catchment laying behind and downstream from Warragamba Dam. I couldn't find one, so I've made my own, gleaned from a variety of geospatial databases.……