Community anger over the loss of popular dam in Waratah

An extensive but ultimately fruitless search for a new owner for the Waratah Dam means it will be decommissioned in a move the local museum has called “environmental vandalism”. LATEST >

Waratah resident Christopher Hawkins who wants to reopen a walking track from Waratah to Temma. Picture Chris Kidd

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A DECISION to decommission a dam at Waratah which is popular with both residents and wildlife has prompted angry reactions with one supporter calling it a “crime against the community”.

TasWater has been trying for two years to find a buyer for the dam, built to provide water to Mt Biscoff tin mine in the 1800s, but has admitted defeat.

TasWater said that following an extensive search to find a new owner for the Waratah Dam, including two Expressions of Interest processes, the dam would now be decommissioned which means it will be drained and the dam wall removed.

Acting General Manager Corporate and Community Relations Ruth Dowty said the preferred position for TasWater, the Waratah-Wynyard Council and State Government was to find a new owner for the dam but it had done all that could be done.

“The dam has not been used as a water supply for years and is no longer operationally required. It is also not compliant with modern dam safety standards or essential for firefighting,” Ms Dowty said.

“To keep the dam it would be mandatory to undertake a multi‐million‐dollar investment to bring it up to current standards and we are responsible for spending our customer’s money wisely, especially in the current environment.”

Saturday Magazine Tassie Towns, the West Coast mining town of Waratah the birthplace of Tasmania's mining industry, scenic view of waterfall

Waratah’s most distinguishing feature, its main street waterfall, will not be affected when the dam is decommissioned, the company said.

The Waratah Museum has labelled the decision a “blatant act of environmental vandalism” while local dam campaigner Chris Hawkins says the decision is a total disregard for the historic significance of the waterway and a “crime against the community.”

“What will happen to all the animals and birds and fish that call this place home and what will happen to Waratah’s water supply safety in dry conditions,” the museum said in a social media post.

A Friends of the Waratah Reservoir was formed last year to try to save the dam which was built in the late 1800s to provide water to the Mt Bischoff tin mine.

“The town of Waratah was in decline like so many other disused mining towns with very few employment opportunities,” a spokesman said at the time.

“We lost our school, our council was forced to amalgamate with Wynyard, we lost our general store and our ambulance station and our pub was down to being only open sporadically — not a very exiting place to try and attract people as a destination and to live.

“Over the last few years the town has begun to turn itself around to the point where we now have an active tourist group, an award-winning coffee shop and the Bischoff Hotel is open seven days a week.”

A meeting will be held on Thursday to see what options the community has to save the dam.