Defective dam threatens $1bn fruit and veg farmers

One of Australia’s most productive fruit and vegetable growing regions is at risk if the government fails to fix a defective dam.

Water being released from Paradise Dam to allow for repairs following a flood. Photo Contributed

Investment in one of Australia’s most productive fruit and vegetable growing regions is at risk if the Queensland government decommissions or downgrades the defective Paradise Dam instead of fixing it, farmers say.

The Palaszczuk government on Friday announced an inquiry into the Paradise Dam, near Bundaberg in southern Queensland, after months of refusing to explain why it decided to release 105,000ML of water into the ocean from the storage in the middle of a drought.

Documents confirm serious structural problems were identified as early as 2006, less than a year after the 300,000ML dam was opened by the Beattie government. The dam was built by a public-private partnership. The general manager was Graeme Newton, who now heads the body charged with building the $5.4bn Cross River Rail transport project.

Dam operator, the government-owned SunWater, is considering decommissioning the dam, massively reducing its storage volume or restoring the dam to its full capacity.

Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers managing director Bree Grima said the region’s $1bn agricultural industry wanted the dam’s full capacity reinstated.

The region is Australia’s lar­gest grower of macadamias, sweet potatoes and passionfruit and the second-largest grower of ­avocadoes.

Ms Grima said the dam’s capacity needed to be restored, or that volume of water needed to be returned to the scheme somehow, for the region’s producers to be able to expand. “If you take away the value of water, that’s what the price of their (farmers’) land is based on,” she said. “We are very concerned about the overall wellbeing of producers. It’s been a ­really tough time. Prices are historically low — tomatoes have been below the cost of production for over two years — and then this is added into the mix.”

She said reports of structural problems being identified as early as 2006 were a shock. “As someone said, the structural integrity of the dam hasn’t changed, it’s just our awareness of it that has.”

Reports released on Friday showed the dam wall was an “unacceptable risk” of breaking apart during a severe cyclone or flood, and dam levels needed to be lower to minimise pressure on the wall.

The government’s inquiry will be led by retired Supreme Court judge John Byrne.

University of Newcastle pro-vice chancellor John Carter will provide technical advice.

Federal MP Keith Pitt, who represents the local seat of Hinkler, said the government had been forced to call an inquiry after ­initially attempting to “spin” the lowering of the spillway as an opportunity for farmers to access “free water”.

“The revelations and combined pressure has forced (them) to stop with the spin and to come clean,’’ he said. “The Queensland government has overseen a stuff-up of astronomical proportions.

“There is only one option that my community will accept and that is to make the dam safe, repair it, restore it or replace it.

“This is the first time we have heard that they are actively considering tearing it down. It would kill the local agricultural economy, which has been booming on the back of the water security that the dam has provided.

“We now know that they are going to knock the spillway down by 5m, and once they do that we won’t get it back.’’

Mr Pitt said the government had to ensure the full 300,000ML capacity of the dam was restored.