Nats float plans for new dams

The NSW government allocated $1 million for a feasibility study of Needles Gap Dam near Canowindra, and $5.3m for a new dam at Lake Wallace near Nimmitabel.

The push for new dams, coming 27 years after the construction of Split Rock and Yellow Pinch Dam, is coming primarily from the NSW Nationals with Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner keen to see State and federal governments working together for water security.

"To develop a program of new and refurbished regional dams we will require maximum co-operation between the federal and State governments, and I have contacted Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss to get the ball rolling," Mr Stoner said.

"I have also asked the Office of Water to investigate other potential sites for new or upgraded dams."

Mr Stoner said recent drought conditions meant water security was a priority for regional communities.

"That is why I announced $366m this year for a new program, Water Security for Regions, to fund infrastructure works to secure water supplies, including the first dam in inland NSW in almost 30 years," he said.

Last year, the Standing Committee on State Development's report, Adequacy of water storages in NSW did not recommend any new dams be built in the State, despite including submissions for new dams on the Murray, Clarence, Kiewa (Victoria), Murrumbidgee and Buffalo (Vic) rivers.

Although the report urged the State to focus on improving water efficiency, committee chairman and Nationals MLC Rick Colless said this did not mean there would never be any more dams built.

"We're not opposed to (the construction of new dams)... over the next 10 years I think new dams or the enlarging of existing ones could be looked at," Mr Colless said.

Orange City councillor Scott Munro is keen to see improvements to Suma Park Dam and Lake Rowlands Dam.

Cr Munro said the region needed more water to keep up with a rising population and to meet demands for industry use, such as a possible mine near Kings Plains.

Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham, from Orange, said improving water efficiency was a far better option than building new dams.

"The vast majority of the State's major catchments and rivers already have storages on them," he said.

"We're not opposed to new storages when it comes to drinking water for communities... (but) we don't want to see new dams built just for the sake of it."

Mr Buckingham said the government should follow the recommendations of the water storages report.

"The Standing Committee was initiated by the National Party... but then it basically delivered a list of recommendations they didn't like," he said.

In north-eastern NSW, calls for excess water from the Clarence River to be diverted met with passionate responses, the majority firmly in the 'not possible' basket.

Those making a living along the Clarence, from the numerous big beef operations to cropping enterprises, fishermen and even sugar cane growers, say the fresh water flushes during floods are critical to river health and the ongoing sustainability of their industries.

However, there is some support for building smaller, off-river reservoirs at strategic locations.

Droughtmaster breeder Mark Heyman, "Riverbend", Lillydale, who has three properties with a total of 7km frontage to the Clarence, said there were plenty of gullies where water doesn't normally flow that, with minimal infrastructure cost, could house reservoirs for collecting excess flow during big floods.

"We certainly don't want to affect the flow of the river because too many industries depend on it but in the big floods, the Clarence flows at 360 times its normal rate - some of that excess could be well used to irrigate farming country both in this region and west of here," he said.

Dr Pierre Mukheibir, from the University of Technology Sydney's Institute for Sustainable Futures, said NSW had moved on from the days of building big dams.

Dr Mukheibir said the high cost of building a huge piece of infrastructure like a dam meant all other options - such as recycling waste water, harvesting storm water or using more rain water tanks - should be investigated first.

"Dams do have advantages but you should exhaust the other options first," he said.

NSW Irrigators chief executive Mark McKenzie said new dams could be useful but only if the costs of building them were worth the effort.