Calls to
divert the waters of the Clarence River occur regularly. The latest calls have come from Griffith
(once again) in the south-west and Toowoomba to our north.
One of
the claims of those promoting dams and diversions is that the water flowing out
to sea from the Clarence is wasted.
That is
missing the point of the function of natural waterways. They are not concrete-lined drains
constructed by engineers to serve humankind. Rivers have developed over
millennia to perform geomorphic and ecological functions which involve
interactions with the landscape and the myriad of life forms which depend on
their water.
All major
diversion schemes obviously involve the construction of large dams. Those dreaming of a western diversion
envisaged something like a Snowy Scheme of the north with massive tunnels and
pumps. Such a scheme would lead to the Clarence below the dam being as degraded
as the Snowy River became as a result of the Snowy Scheme.
And if
the water was diverted to the Murray-Darling Basin, as those in Griffith and
elsewhere over the range would like, would it be used to improve the health of
the river systems there or to allow expansion of the cotton industry in the
north and horticulture in the south?
Another
suggestion is that humankind downstream would benefit if there was a massive
dam built on the Clarence for flood protection.
In floodtime, particularly when there are very heavy falls across the
entire catchment, the volume of water flowing down the Clarence is huge. How
big would a flood protection dam have to be?
Just how realistic is this idea?
While
floods cause problems for humans on floodplains, they are vital to the
rejuvenation of the river system. The health of the Clarence and the industries
which rely on it – like our important fishing industry - would be severely
impacted if such a dam were built just as it would be if the river was dammed
for a diversion.
One way
of keeping the Clarence River healthy is to ensure that there are no further
diversions or dams.
- Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on May 28, 2018.
