Mark O’May, a Judbury farmer and former Huon Valley councillor, is underwhelmed by TasWater plans to remove a weir from Dora Creek.
Mr O’May has tried to find out who built the weir, to no avail.
“It was built by farmers to service the local farms,” he said – adding that he had spoken to a 96-year-old local man who said it had always been there.
“It was then taken over by Huon Valley Council and then taken over as an asset of TasWater.”
Not everyone is aware that TasWater is 90 percent owned by by Tasmania’s 29 local government councils and the Tasmanian state government.
“The cost-of-living pressures on Tasmanians are so high, why waste money on destroying good infrastructure when it can be spent somewhere else to add positive things to the community?” said Mr O’May.
Lindsay White, from the Farmers, Landowners Action Group (FLAG) met with Mr O’May recently to assess the situation. He described it as ‘totally bloody bizarre’, saying;
“The FPA (Forest Practices Authority) are fining farmers for going anywhere near a water source and yet Taswater can rip out a 100-year-old dam for absolutely no reason – and excavator is on site ready to demolish it.”
TasWater Sustainable Infrastructure Services general manager Matthew Derbyshire told Tasmanian Country:
“TasWater has an agreement in place through the Huon Valley Water Scheme, which covers the water supply to the townships of Huonville, Cygnet and Geeveston and ensures that water quality meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines,” Mr Derbyshire said.
The Deed requires Tas Water to decommission up to five smaller rivulet supplies and return one gigalitre of water to local creeks and rivers.
“The removal of the Dora Creek weir supports our commitment to returning water to the local waterways.”
The situation is similar to the recent removal of a weir at Fleurtys Rivulet in South Franklin. Residents did not feel they had received adequate notification about the decommissioning and investigated the possibility of transferring ownership of the property to the adjoining landholders or Landcare. The response from Taswater was unequivocal.
“The federal funding deed does not allow TasWater to divest this weir to adjacent landowners and the land is owned Crown Land.”
When asked why the weir was being decommissioned, TasWater stated:
“TasWater is decommissioning the weir because the opportunity to divest the asset is not possible.”
The weir was built around 1947 and had a resident platypus – it was recently decommissioned, and a resident described the aftermath;
“Absolutely hideous stinking black toxic water flowing down Fleurtys Rivulet for days.”
Back in Judbury Mr O’May is not only concerned about what he considers to be the needless destruction of infrastructure, he also raises the issue of maintaining the weir as a backup fire-fighting reservoir. Mr Derbyshire responded in Tasmanian Country that the Tasmanian Fire Service had confirmed the weir was not required in their operations – whether the Upper Huon Fire Brigade has a different opinion is unknown.
At the time of printing, unconfirmed reports indicate that the decommissioning of the Dora Creek weir has been put on hold for the time being, with machinery having been removed from the site. The issue is timely, with the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Public Accounts will holding a public hearing into TasWater’s financial and operational performance at 2pm on Thursday, October 1.
The hearing will also be broadcast online through the Parliamentary Broadcast Service available at the following link parliament.tas.gov.au
