Council linked to dam mistake

THE Brisbane City Council influenced the operators of Queensland's largest dam to make lower releases of water at a critical time.

THE Brisbane City Council influenced the operators of Queensland's largest dam to make lower releases of water at a critical time during heavy rainfall, causing the dam to quickly rise to alarming levels and force the release of huge volumes, which produced most of the devastating floods in January.

The council's high-level communications with the Wivenhoe Dam operator, SEQWater, on the evening of January 9 were crucial to it backflipping on a plan to "ramp up" dam releases to a significantly higher rate, senior sources told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

These communications are to be forensically examined by lawyers whose clients are seeking permission to appear at a royal commission-style inquiry into the floods.

Engineers and hydrologists state in detailed reports before the inquiry that there would have been only minor flooding if the higher rate of release proposed by SEQWater on January 9 had been adopted.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said in a statement yesterday: "Brisbane City Council has no control over the operations of Wivenhoe Dam, which is wholly owned by the Queensland state government.

"In accordance with the Premier's guidelines released last October, SEQWater contacted council to inform council of planned water releases from Wivenhoe Dam and request information about the impact of water releases on properties."

Mr Newman refused interview requests, but a spokeswoman added: "At no time, before or during the flood, did the Lord Mayor or any councillor or council officer direct or instruct SEQWater, or any other state government agency, about the operations of Wivenhoe Dam."

But senior sources said SEQWater and the Queensland government did not want to put the council "offside again" after a controversy last October triggered by a Wivenhoe Dam release that prompted Mr Newman to warn residents to start sandbagging low-lying homes.

The sandbagging was unnecessary then, but the issue exposed tensions between the council, Mr Newman and the government.

The abandoning by SEQWater of its documented plan on January 9 for a higher rate of release meant the dam filled quickly with heavy rainfall and catchment run-off, necessitating emergency releases of water at a rate of almost 7500 cubic metres per second on January 11.

Senior engineers who have modelled these releases, which comprised most of the flood in the Brisbane River, concluded they also caused the Bremer River, through Ipswich, and the Lockyer Creek to back up, adding metres to the flood heights.

A panel of hydrologists and engineers in a report for the Insurance Council of Australia has formally categorised the Brisbane flood as a "dam release flood" rather than a flood caused by excessive rainfall.

In detailed reports provided to The Weekend Australian and the Floods Commission of Inquiry, headed by Supreme Court judge Cate Holmes, other independent senior engineers and stakeholders press for exhaustive investigation of key entries in an official flood events log controlled by SEQWater.