Paradise Dam’s water level above capacity

Queensland’s defective Paradise Dam is again releasing thousands of litres of water in the drought-­declared region.

Repairs under way at Paradise Dam late last year.

Queensland’s defective Paradise Dam is again releasing thousands of litres of water in the drought-­declared region after days of rain led to it exceeding its recently ­reduced storage capacity.

The water level was at 56.9 per cent on Thursday night, well over the 42 per cent level that dam ­operator SunWater set last year after concerns about the safety of the spillway and wall first discovered after the 2013 floods.

Earlier this month, the Palas­zczuk government introduced legislation to pave the way for a 5m lowering of the spillway to enable work on the dam, near Bundaberg, which was found to be at “un­acceptable risk” of breaking apart during a major flood.

Water Minister Anthony Lynham has since refused to commit to restoring the full capacity of the 300,000-megalitre dam by the cash-strapped, debt-laden state Labor government, despite pleas by the local council and agriculture groups in the region that is ­responsible for a quarter of Australia’s produce.

Dr Lynham announced in ­September more than 105,000ML of “free water” would be released ­before the wet season to allow for “works to improve the dam’s ­stability during extreme rain events’’.

At the time, SunWater chair Leith Boully said an improvement program investigation had identified “issues … that required works to be undertaken immediately’’.

It has since emerged that the dam has major design and construction problems — first identified after suffering damage in the 2013 floods — leading the government to order a commission of ­inquiry into the dam, built and opened by the Beattie government in 2005.

A SunWater spokesman said on Thursday the dam levels had continued to rise as rain fell into the catchment, despite days of water releases.

The spokesman said the dam ­remained safe.

“With the current weather and weather forecasts, the dam is safe,’’ he said.

“The 42 per cent level is to maximise community safety downstream in the event we see another 2013 flood event and to facilitate works to lower the spillway for 5m as an interim measure to improve the stability of the dam.’’

A spokesman for the Bundaberg Regional Council said the water releases had already led to flooding in areas that had only ever been inundated before the construction of the dam under the Beattie government.

Earlier this month, it was ­revealed that initial analysis by Adept Economics, which also ­involved a detailed survey of growers in the region, found that up to $1bn would be forgone in lost ­investment and earnings over the next 50 years from the $4.3bn-a-year local economy.