Griffith Business Chamber president Paul Pierotti has questioned the value of a Hume Dam Early Warning Network.
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Water NSW and the Murray Darling Basin Authority on Tuesday unveiled a new warning alert system to be triggered when flows at Doctor’s Point hit 25,000ML a day.
The Murray River Action Group believes this change in the Hume Dam Early Warning Network is a step in the right direction.
Mr Pierotti, however, asked “what’s the point of having an early warning system when the problem is what incompetent bureaucrats are doing under the directions of the failed Basin Plan?”.
Since the 2016 spring floods the MDBA and Water NSW have been reviewing communications for landholders and the community downstream of Hume Dam.
Mr Pierotti said, “there’s no point having open communication on something that is totally dysfunctional. We need to start this over from scratch”.
The Murray River Action Group is more optomistic.
“Essentially it is good because last year the early warning network only advised on rises and it didn't advise of falls … this time around you’ll get notifications for both rises and falls,” action group chair Richard Sargood said.
“The downfall of the system is that essentially all it’s going to do is notify of releases out of the dam.
“It’s not going to give a height or a flow at Albury.
“That’s the downfall of the system, it’s going to be better than it was last year but I would like them to give an indication of what they believe those releases are going to do at the gauge at Albury.”
MDBA river management executive director David Dreverman said using the Doctor’s Point gauge accommodated flows from Kiewa River. “This update will give people notifications about any releases that occur whenever flows at Albury are overbank as well as any dam safety concerns that may arise,” Mr Dreverman said.