Nietta farmer fighting against mini hydro scheme loses bid in tribunal over flooding claims

A South Nietta farmer has lost a legal battle against a neighbouring private hydro scheme, which he claimed was flooding and damaging his land. What a tribunal decided.

Donald Bonney.

A South Nietta farmer has lost a legal battle against a neighbouring private hydro scheme, which he claimed was flooding and damaging his land.

Donald Bonney has been fighting against the family-owned Nietta Hydro Scheme, which is owned by the Miles family with a 90,000 square metre dam and was granted approval in 2012.

The energy scheme works by periodically pumping water from Jean Brook through a pipeline, in a pond or dam along Maxfields Road.

The water then flows along a water that travels through a number of properties, including Mr Bonney’s, before it reaches the Castra Rivulet Dam.

Water from that dam is used by the Miles family to generate electricity before it is returned to the waterway.

Mr Bonney, and other farmers in the area, has claimed the Miles family has spent the past few years pumping water through his property – and 10 other parcels of land – without a valid permit and in contravention of the local planning scheme.

Gaunts Farm, Chris Miles and the Nietta Hydro turbines.

He argued that although the waterway was naturally-occurring, the scheme’s activities were causing “elevated waterflows”.

Mr Bonney made an application to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for an order precluding the scheme from using his land to channel water for its electricity generation.

But in its newly-published decision, the tribunal found the hydro scheme was not breaching the rules.

It found while it was likely that the water pumped from the Jean Brook periodically increased water volumes through the tributary, the hydro scheme had not contravened the planning scheme.

The tribunal also noted that an action before it was “not the forum” to resolve Mr Bonney’s concerns about waterflow impacts on his land.

The Nietta Hydro Scheme generates about 620kW an hour, and is said to be able to power more than 800 Tasmanian households.

The property has a long history with electricity generation. The first 240-volt turbine system was installed there, as part of the original Gaunts Hydro, in 1936.

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Originally published as Nietta farmer fighting against mini hydro scheme loses bid in tribunal over flooding claims