Confusion over role of Ross River Dam

A former chairman of north Queensland’s water authority says he was “surprised” Ross River Dam was not declared as a flood mitigation dam because $120 million was spent upgrading it for that purpose.

FORMER Premier Campbell Newman has called for an independent commission inquiry into the Townsville floods to assess how the emergency was managed.

The State Government last week announced the Inspector General Emergency Management would conduct a review into the floods.

However Mr Newman called for an independent inquiry, insisting it needed to be at arm’s length from Government to ensure the public could have confidence in its findings.

It joins comments from former NQ Water chairman Ian Hamilton who said he was surprised to hear SunWater state the Ross River Dam was not declared as a flood mitigation dam.

Ross River Dam operators ‘inadequately’ trained, engineer says

Graziers are counting the cost of huge stock losses after the flood rain

The Ross River Dam was upgraded in 2007. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Mr Hamilton, who chaired the board from 1987 to 2008, said it was NQ Water’s belief the dam was primarily used for flood mitigation.

The Courier-Mail yesterday sought further clarification from SunWater around the dam’s classification, however was told questions would be addressed in the IGEM review.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy said most dams mitigated flooding.

“Ross River Dam is a gated dam structure which provides a dual purpose of supplying critical water and flood attenuation with the amount of additional storage capacity in the dam, for the city of Townsville,” she said.

“The dam gates are not designed to provide the degree of flood mitigation that would allow Ross River Dam to be prescribed and operated as a flood mitigation dam under the Act.

“As the Premier told Parliament this morning (yesterday), the monsoon event was a one-in-a 500 year event and all parties co-operated and took advice from experts from around Australia.”

Townsville was inundated when the Ross River Dam‘s floodgates were forced to open. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine are Queensland’s only prescribed flood mitigation dams.

Mr Newman said he saw significant issues with the way the Government and council “went about informing and protecting” Townsville.

“If you want some examples, it was the call late one afternoon, early evening, where they advised people that the dam was going to automatically open and release an unprecedented amount of water,” he said.

“The then mad scramble to inform people and get them to evacuate but too late in the day to do it (in an) orderly and responsible manner.

“It then meant that people were seeing their homes inundated during the hours of darkness.”

Mr Hamilton said he was surprised by SunWater’s comments in The Courier-Mail yesterday, where the State Government owned corporation also said it was not required to provide “flood mitigation advice or advisory services in relation to flood mitigation and does not have the required insurances to provide this advice.”

“I’m surprised, I always thought it was a flood mitigation dam as well as a water supply dam,” he said.

When asked whether the dam’s upgrade in 2007, which saw three spillway gates installed, was primarily for flood mitigation, Mr Hamilton said yes.

“Indeed it was,” he said.

“The BOM worked out the maximum possible precipitation and they checked all the dams in Australia and a very large number had to be upgraded.

“They found that if they applied the maximum possible precipitation to the dam previously, it was in a very dangerous situation, it could overtop.

“That’s why we spent $120 million (to upgrade).”

Originally published as Confusion over role of Ross River Dam