Author
kimk
The Paradise Dam was approved for the Burnett River in SE QLD prior ot the 2002 state elections. The Burnett River already has as many as 13 dams and weirs along it's length, 5 of them being huge projects like this one. The dam will cost an estimated $300 million, a figure that even irrigators argue will render the cost of the water beyond their means and effectively render the entire water output of the Burnett privatised: up for sale to the highest bidder. (article 1)
Dams and irrigation schemes decrease river health by: altering natural water cycles; destroying the migration and breeding cycles of native fish species; creating salinity problems; increasing susceptibility to poisonous blue-green algae outbreaks; degrading water quality which impacts on ecosystems and communities downstream.
Ecologists say the dam will reduce ocean outfall of the Burnett to virtually nothing, that it will be the straw that breaks the ecological camels back. For the Burnett River is home to the endangered Lungfish, a living fossil reminder that life crawled from the oceans some 300 million years ago. It is also the home of a recently discovered but as yet unnamed turtle from the Alseya family.
For further information visit he website of the Queensland Conservation Council's “Rivers Alive” campaign pages at http://www.qccqld.org.au/rivers_alive
or check out the Greens site at:
AUDIO:
1.Les Darrow - rep for “Burnett Water forAll” summarises the issues (GOOD OUTRO) 1:28
2.Les Darrow - rep for “Burnett Water forAll” gives a backgrounder to the issues 3:42
3.Lindy Marshall - local Gayndah resident talks to Kim abbut why she opposes the dam 2:58
4.Graham Armstrong - turtle researcher talks about the risks to the recently discovered as yet unammed turtle of the Alseya family and the endangered lungfish EXCELLENT 3:35
5.Drew Hutton - leader of the Qld Greens talks abouthe political machinations that resulted in the decision to build the dam and compares it to Joh's Tarong Power Station proposal 2:48
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