Warragamba Dam Raising

To whom it may concern,
I strongly oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall. The only reason to raise the wall is flawed. Development in the flood plains of Western Sydney Floodplains should cease and desist. If the dam wall collapses it will cause a catastrophic event many times more devastating than the current flood situation.

The raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall will destroy, and cause irreversible damage to 4700 hectares or World Heritage listed National Parks, and declared Wilderness Areas. This will also allow the invasion of exotic plants, as well as scarring from sedimentation and erosion. At least 54 kilometres of Blue Mountain's wild rivers will be affected by the inundation of destructive water forces.
There is evidence that floodwaters that devastate the Hawkesbury-Nepean area actually bypass the Warragamba Dam system, therefore no matter if the wall is raised, the same communities will suffer flooding devastation, as they do today.
I regularly visit the Blue Mountains area for Bushwalking and camping. The area is already adversly affected by historic development, and the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall would also jeopordise our currently World Heritage listing, of National Parks.
It upsets me deeply that the Traditional Owners' concerns have been ignored. Are we Australians to be highlighted on the World stage again, for another travesty of this nature?
Sydney's Blue Mountain National Parks are a large part of our Tourism draw - so we are clearly on the world stage in this regard. We cannot get this wrong.
There are alternatives to mitigate the flooding devestation in the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain. These should be seriously investigated, as well as STOPPING any further development in the area. STOP putting people and infrastructure in harms way.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
Raising the dam wall will not stop floods according to the experts.
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is a natural floodplain and flood waters cannot be held back even with a higher dam wall.
The cost of building the dam wall be millions and will encourage more flood plain development which is exactly what you don't want if flooding is inevitable.
The Blue Mountains is a World Heritage Area and shouldn't be needlessing flooded.
Traditional Owners have identified 1541 cultural heritage sites that would be inundated by the dam proposal. Their culture must be respected.
I do not support the dam proposal.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I am writing as a resident of the Blue Mountains and a health professional to express my grave concern regarding the proposed raising of Warragamba Dam. The problematic issues surrounding this proposal are well known to you and have already been raised in over 2500 submissions. Having reviewed the EIS and PIR I am concerned that they are in breach of the NSW Government's own legislative obligations towards biodiversity and Indigenous heritage, and also in breach of best practice in flood prevention and mitigation. I see the salient issues as follows:
- Raising Warragamba Dam will intermittently flood a significant area of wilderness surrounding Lake Burragorang, directly endangering rare ecological communities, involving several rare species of eucalypt and the critically endangered regent honeyeater. The original peer review describing the environmental impacts of the project described the threats to these species as "likely" and "direct". The wording of this report was changed in 2019 at the request of WaterNSW in order to avoid the potentially billions of dollars of environmental offsets that would need to have been purchased. This would appear to be in breach of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
- The proposal is clearly in breach of UNESCO's Recommendation Concerning the Protection, at National Level, of Cultural and Natural Heritage, so much so that UNESCO has threatened to remove the status of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. If this removal were to proceed it would result in the loss of billions of dollars of tourism income to NSW. The governments of Australia and NSW have made a commitment to upholding World Heritage values and I would certainly not vote for any government that did not demonstrate that they take that commitment seriously.
- A report prepared on behalf of WaterNSW concluded that raising the dam wall will cause "unavoidable" and "irreversible" harm to unique sites of Aboriginal cultural heritage. The NSW Government is the custodian of these sites. The destruction of these sites would be in breach of the government's commitment to maintaining Aboriginal cultural heritage for future generations.
- There are cheaper, safer and more effective ways of reducing the impacts of increased flooding. These include reforesting flood-prone areas, not allowing development of low-density housing and impermeable surfaces in flood zones, and increasing the development density of already-developed land in a "build up, not out" approach, and making these easily accessible by public transit. This will result in communities that are more economically productive, sustainable and resilient against natural disasters.
In summary, I think this proposal is not only in breach of multiple commitments by the NSW Government, but is not an approach that makes long-term economic sense. I would expect that alternatives be progressed that are more sustainable and economically tenable.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall.
The prior process, for which I made an opposing submission, largely ingored the circa 2,500 community and government submissions raising concerns and valid points.
The NSW Government plans to trash UNESCO whold heiritage and related areas - shame!
Insufficient work to address the significant heritage concerns of traditional owners has been undertaken (and I am concern even if engagement does occur, the requests will be largely refused).
There are alternatives to this that are far less environmentally and ecologically destructive that the NSW Government has insufficiently considered.
As a keen bushwalker who has spent considerable time exploring the Blue Mountains I fear the significant impacts on the Kowmung river and broader Blue Mountains National Park from this ill considered proposal.
I implore the NSW Government to fully consider and pursue alternatives to the raising of Warragamba Dam to avoid the environmental destruction it will needlessly cause.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I feel it would be enviromental vandalism to increase the height of warragamba dam. I know the valleys that would be flooded very well, having walked in these areas extensively. I can fully understand why they have world heritage listing. The Komung river would have to be one of the most precious areas in the Blue Mountains. I have no desire to support developers profits. More efective town planning is required to make better use of existing areas of habitation. Constant urban spead is unsustainable.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I am writing to vehemently oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall.

This project will detrimentally affect the Blue Mountains World Heritage National Park & pristine river systems upstream of the wall such as ther Kowmung and Coxes Rivers.

I am an avid bushwalker and greatly enjoy the outdoors & the continued push to raise the dam wall, which will significantly damage our natural environement is something that I cannot stand for.

Leave no doubt that if the NSW Liberal Govt continues to push forward with this project I will be fully supportive of any candidate in my electroate that is opposed to the dam wall raising.

I note that Brad Hazard is standing down from policitics at the next election & Liberal will have a difficult enough time retaining this seat without losing more crucial votes

I have read that the new EIS has again dismissed the concerns of the tradional owners of the land. something that is completely unacceptable.

I also have significant concerns about future governments ability to manage the increased height of the wall. Recent events in the states central west has clearly shown us that during these large weather events, that the spilling of dam waters only exacerbates problems down stream.

Rather than raising the Dam wall and destrpoying our beautiful wilderness, stop pandering to the development groups & stop the land development on known flood plains

Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I am writing as a deeply concerned citizen constituent, environmentalist and regular bushwalker in the Blue Mountains to express my opposition to the proposed Warragamba Dam wall raising, under the Preferred Infrastructure Report (PIR).
The PIR has dismissed the substantial concerned raised in 2500 community and government submissions in 2021, including expert submissions. It also ignores the advice of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in changing the boundaries of the Blue Mountains National Party World Heritage Area. Serious concerns have been raised by Sydney Water and Health NSW about the effects of the project on drinking water quality in Sydney, which have also been dismissed by the report.
The PIR proposal involves destruction of World Heritage and National parks, including 65 kilometres of wilderness rivers and 5700 hectares of National Parks, including World Heritage Area containing a number of threatened ecological communities - Grassy Box Woodland, habitat for endangered and critically endangered species, including the Regent Honeyeater and Sydney's last Emu population.
Gundungurra Traditional owners have also been dimissed by the proposal, which will see over 1541 identified cultural heritage sites inundated. This has been severely and repeatedly criticised at the Federal level and by the International Council on Monuments and Sites for lack of appropriate assessment of cultural heritage and meaningful consultation.
There are alternative options to the PIR which would protect existing floodplain communities. These were not assessed in the EIS. Evidence shows that no matter how high the wall is, it will not prevent flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley downstream.
The evidence is clear that the PIR proposal involves highly destructive impacts and risks for human and ecological health and to cultural intergrity of country. I urge you to listen to the community and take in the abundant evidence on this important issue. The dam is inappropriate and destructive of all too precious habitat and country of cultural significance.

Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
Raising the Dam wall is not and has never been required. 50% of the river water that floods the Hawkesbury comes from other rivers.
It's all about property development for LNP mates/donors/election bribery and lie that it's about "saving lives" to try and wedge the ALP. It will destroy a massive amount of a World Heritage wilderness along with first nations sacred sites and art. Stokes had it right to stop it so they shunted him out of planning.

Flood-risk is an important issue facing western Sydney, raising Warragamba Dam will not prevent flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and is an inadequate solution to managing flood risk. Half of all historic flood waters have come from catchments outside of Warragamba Dam. This means that even if Warragamba Dam wall is raised, other catchments would still cause significant flooding in western Sydney. In addition, the NSW Government have said they want to place an additional 134,000 people on western Sydney floodplains after the Warragamba Dam wall is raised . Housing more people on the floodplain will put thousands more lives at risk when floods occur and will only add to the serious congestion problems facing western Sydney.

We will fight this on the ground.

Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
On average 45%of floodwaters are derived from areas outside the upstream Warragamba Dama catchment.Tha means that no matter how high the dam wall is constructed, it will not be able to prevent flooding in the Hawkesburn -Nepean Valley downsteam.
The raising of the Dam wall will affect the Kowmung River - declared a Wild River ,protected for its pristine condition under the Narional Parks and Wildlife Ac 1974
Habitat for endagered and critically endangered species including the Critically Endangered Regent Honey eater and Sydney's last Emu population.
The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assesment Report has been severly and Internation Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for not appropriately assessin cultural heritage in meaningul consutation with Gundungarra community members.
I accept the Department's submissions disclaimer and declaration
Sincerely ,

To whom it may concern,
As an individual with advanced qualifications in heritage and heritage management I find it disturbing that the NSW government is willing to risk destroying a World Heritage Site while also putting people's lives and homes at risk. With the recent flood events it should be quite obvious that further developement of flood plains should be discontinued rather than encouraged. Raising the dam gives potential future residents a false sense of security as it will not be a long term mitigation measure against flooding. Additionally, ICOMOS and the Traditional Owners of the land in the area have brought it to the NSW government's attention that there has not been a meaningful consultation with the Gundungurra community in regards to the impact that this will have on their cultural heritage sites.
Sydney Water and NSW Health have also raised concerns about this project. As a resident of Sydney who will very likely be directely impacted by this, as like most humans I require clean drinking water to survive, I oppose the raising of the Warragamba Dam. This project is likely to destroy a World Heritage site, many cultural heritage sites for the Gundungarra community, clean and safe drinking water for Sydney's residents, and future homes that are built on the floodplains. The only people who will benefit from this project are developers and they are not representative of the public.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
The opportunity to build more homes on the flood plains is not the answer!
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
This proposition dismisses previous community concerns. It justifies the destruction of our World Heritage. Tradional Owners are ignored. There are better alternatives to raising the Warragamba Dam wall.


Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I do not agree with spending money to raise Warragamba Dam and flooding land upstream and ruining habitat and nature. It's a blunt and poorly thought out solution to future years of both big droughts and big wet. If it is to reduce flooding, it's better to manage landuse and over development/ concrete upstream, install leaky weirs, work with nature re catchment areas and put in tanks. If for Sydney's drinking water, flooding taints dams anyway and we have a desalination plant already. Don't raise the dam, we need a better, more clever and less bullish solution including reducing deforestation, making private property over a certain size keep some land as water storage and many other things we can do broadly, all together, to mitigate risk. I hope some clever minds come to the table as a community concern, not just another infrastructure project benefiting big construction companies and politicians' relationships for when they leave govt, at the huge expense to the taxpayer.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,

I am very disappointed to learn of the NSW government's decision to raise the Warragamba dam wall. I am very much against this plan.

There are alternatives to this plan that would protect exsiting flood plain communities, and these have not been assessed in the EIS. These should be explored further. The plan to raise the dam wall, if it goes ahead, will destroy a big chunk of our World heritage National Park, including the wild Kowmung River. This is too big a price to pay.
The Premier's pitch on this, of 'people before plants', creates a false dichotomy and is an unhelpful distortion of the situation. People value wilderness and Aboriginal heritage sites. I am also shocked that the government has ignored expert advice about this plan, including concerns from Sydney Water, about the impact on ou dirnking water, and from UNESCO about redrawing the boundaries of the Blue Mountains NP World Heritage Area.
I urge you to reconsider this destructive plan and explore alternative solutions.

Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
When are we going to learn that if you manipulate nauture it will bite back with dire consequences. We have or are paying for a desalination plant. Keep the dam at a reduced level and use desalination in the short fall. Apart from the dire effects on nature that will be caused by raising the wall, it is likely we will just end up with a greater problem when more water needs releasing. Floodplains should never have been released for sale. When are we going to realise we need to make sacrifices now to have any future and the sooner we work with nature rather than try to manipulate it for our short te4m gains, the sooner we can live in harmony. NO to raising the dam or be dammed
Yours sincerely,

Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am completely opposed to any raising of the dam wall. There has been no facts that satisfy me that warrants the expenditure of any more funds on the research, reports etc on this matter.
Any further time and expenditure on this matter is simply a complete waste of resources.
The matter has been raised as a political issue to obtain votes for the current government in the flood plain, at the next election and is a complete waste of tax payers money.
it is completely untrue that the raising of the dam wall will prevent flooding on the existing flood plain, without removing all clay substrata and build up the height of the flood plain above future flood levels.This process would be an impossible task an environmentally unacceptable.
I have regularly walked in the Blue Mountains and find the loss of the bushwalk unacceptable.
The current Government has totally failed to listen to the community concern.
# rainwater would not be absorbed within the flood plain.
#concerns have been raised as the quality of the drinking water during construction of the wall and the introduction of vegetation(rotting) following construction. This dam is the primary source of Sydney's drinking water.
#A major concern is that this government has completely disregarded that stored water will destroy part of the Blue Mountains National Park World Heritage Area, which is Nationally, morally and environmentally unacceptable when this Government has a legal and moral responsibility to protect such areas.
#The concerns raised in the EIS has failed to be addressed or considered by this Government
I find the complete disregard for the environmental damage to the Kowmung River, endangered species, habitat together with our bushland, Forrest, flora and fumna totally unexceptable, illegal and beyond any common sense.
This Government has totally disregarded our First Nations people, their culture, beliefs and sacred sites.
There appears to have been no consideration by this Government that the flood plains should not be built upon and best left for badly need open space, for growing food or stock, as the raising of the dam wall will not prevent flooding of the flood plains by other rivers, valleys and alike.
I completely oppose the raising of the dame wall.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,

This again is another blantant disregard for native flora and fauna of the burragorang valley and upstream areas, purely for greed of the excessive housing development plague on Sydney surrounds.
Additionally the indigenous Australian objections to this raising of the wall are being totally ignored! Sacred sites would be flooded and lost, all for a project which would not even DO WHAT IT CLAIMS in helping floods downstream.
How can you ignore the flow of the river systems and where the water is actually coming from? It is pointless and only further shows proof that big housing development business are given preference over all others for what can only be due to money.
I am totally against this project, and as an Oakdale resident have a strong connection to the surrounding area.

How about we stop building on flood plains and trying to adjust the world around to suit us. How can UNESCO be dismissed?!
If you ruin these lands they will be gone forever. Purely for disgusting greed and to fill a small fews pockets at the expense of so many others.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I strongly oppose the raising of Warragamba Dam wall. It will inundate more of the World Heritage Blue Mountains National Park, endangering threatened species and destroying Aboriginal heritage. I am a frequent visitor to the Blue Mountains, and object to further destruction that is not necessary. Raising the dam wall will not prevent flooding of the Hawkesbury Nepean floodplain. Other rivers not controlled by the dam also feed into this river system. Promising safety from floods if the wall is raised, enabling further development, is irresponsible, and could be seen as criminally negligent. Future residents will still be flooded out on a regular basis, which can only get worse with climate change. Unless the dam is kept at a subtantially lower water level, it will not act to mitigate floods to any extent. The NSW government could lower the dam level right now to assist existing residents, but chooses not to, to create more pressure for raising the dam wall. For all these reasons, I strongly object to raising the wall at Warragamba Dam.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I object to the government's plan to raise the wall of the Warragamba dam. I believe that the ABoriginal heritage values, and destruction of the beautiful Kowmung river in iteslf are enough to justify NOT raising the dam wall. The idea of changing the boundaries of the park itself just to allow this is simply outrageous. I object strongly to it and urge the government to listen to the views of many experts, not to mention UNESCO.
The traditional owners of this land must also be lisetned to and their advice heeded at this important historical juncture.
Yours sincerely,

To whom it may concern,
I am objecting to the rushed inadequately researched investigation and recommendation in raising the Warragamba dam wall. This abohorent to those that live and respect this Word Heritage listed wilderness area. The loss of aboriginal cultural heritage, the loss of the last wild river the mighty Kowmung and all the at risk flora an fauna isn't justified to allow developers to continue to develop on floodplains. Please reconsider your evaluations in raising the dam wall and look at other alternative flood mitigation strategies.
Yours sincerely,