John Barilaro lashes AGL for letting Glenbawn Dam dry up

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has lashed major energy company AGL for “hoarding” water which could be used to help struggling farmers. It comes as The Sunday Telegraph launches its Bone Dry: One Year On special report. INTERACTIVE MAP: NSW DROUGHT CONDITIONS

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A major energy company has been accused of letting an important dam become critically low to save money, which means farmers desperately fighting the worst drought on record will now have their ­irrigation water use rights slashed.

AGL has been savaged by the state government as a company devoid of any community spirit in a selfish pursuit of profit, over water use in the dwindling Glenbawn Dam in the Upper Hunter Region.

AGL uses water from Glenbawn Dam for its Bayswater and Liddell coal-fired power stations.

When AGL bought Macquarie Generation and its Bayswater and Liddell power stations from the NSW government in 2014, part ofthe deal included a water pump to top up Glenbawn Dam in dry times.

AGL has been accused of hoarding water in Glenbawn Dam.

The pump can pipe water from the flowing Barnard River in the upper Manning River catchment over the Mount Royal Range intoGlenbawn Dam on the Hunter River, where AGL has guaranteed water usage rights which take precedent over other users.

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But AGL is not using the pump and Glenbawn’s water level has fallen so low — nearing just 50 per cent capacity — that horsebreeders, grape growers and miners will ­tomorrow learn their water allocations have been reduced.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro lashed AGL and said the pump would have added 60 billion litresof water to the dam since the drought began three years ago.

A state government source said farmers in the Upper Hunter would have kept their water rights for at least another year if AGL had been pumping water into the dam.

“AGL has shocking form when it comes to acting in the best interest of Australians,” Mr Barilaro said.

“They have proven that a dollar comes before the individual. When times get tough, everyone should do their bit to help wherethey can.

“I am making a plea to AGL to work with the government to make life a bit easier for families and ­businesses in regionalNSW doing it tough. If that is too hard then, ­simply put, they have lost their ­social ­licence.”

AGL claims the pump was ­already broken when it bought the power stations.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro has lashed AGL.

“The (pump) scheme was not working when AGL acquired Macquarie Generation from the NSW government and had not been used formany years,” AGL executive general manager group operations Doug Jackson said.

AGL claims the government could intervened to renovate and restart the pump and pipe at any time, but the government deniesit has any authority to intervene as the water belongs to AGL.

The amount of water that has flowed into the Glenbawn Dam since the current drought took hold in July 2017 is the lowest onrecord; roughly half of the inflow during the Millennium Drought when the pump was still operational.

Drinking water for residents in Scone, Aberdeen, Muswellbrook and Singleton comes from the Glenbawn Dam but is quarantinedand cannot be touched by industry.

Originally published as John Barilaro lashes AGL for letting Glenbawn Dam dry up