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Arkin
Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 110
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 Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:28 pm Post subject: The Great SEQ Dam Tour |
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Hi all...
Ian & I have just completed a whirlwind tour of as many SEQ dams as we could get to in our 4 days holiday.
We felt a photography expedition was needed after difficulty finding images showing the present conditions.
Photos from the trip are online for viewing at www.stoppress.com.au/damtour and clearly illustrate the dire times.
It's not rocket science to figure that another dam in the present climate would look just as tragic.
Please pass the link on, pictures can say more than words... and may cause some objectors to 6 star water to rethink their policy when they see the mess that cows make on the banks of Wivenhoe Dam.
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activism in pictures
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I can only shake my head a those pictures of Paradise dam. Maybe, if Ian Campbell plans on making his decision based on similar developments in the past, he should take a serious look at this dam that Beattie holds up as a model example of his Dam success'. |
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stevem
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 814
Location: Ridgewood
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Arkin I heard on ABC radio last night that reporters from the Courier Mail had made the trip out to the site of the proposed Wyaralong Dam and found nothing more than a dried up creek bed! Still searching for a link to the article and will post if I can find it. |
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stevem
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 814
Location: Ridgewood
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| Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 1:39 am Post subject: |
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Tiny trickle sparks torrent
Brian Williams
July 11, 2006
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19750947-3102,00.html
| Quote: | IF the State Government expects its dam site at Wyaralong southwest of Brisbane to fill quickly, it should think again.
The dam near Boonah is planned to be built on Teviot Brook. But yesterday, the brook was not so much a waterway as a gully – and pretty much dry at that.
Wyaralong resident Cecil Firth said the brook had not flooded in four to five years.
"We got a little bit of a run this summer but it did not break its banks," he said of the brook that is renowned for rising and falling quickly.
"There's also a lot of water drawn from it upstream with bores and offstream storages.
"They pull a lot out." |
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Christian Dunham
Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:07 am Post subject: |
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Check out these photos and pass on the address to everyone you know. They are striking.... and show the reality of our dam situation.
Thank you Arkin and Ian for such a massive effort. |
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Darren E
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2075
Location: Dagun, Qld
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:20 am Post subject: |
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Oh you're Ian Mackay's daughter? I wondered where you'd popped up from so suddenly. Sorry Arkin, I'm not familiar with your name and assumed you were a guy. Doh!  |
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Arkin
Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| westholme wrote: | | Oh you're Ian Mackay's daughter? I wondered where you'd popped up from so suddenly. Sorry Arkin, I'm not familiar with your name and assumed you were a guy. Doh! |
LOL 
Hi Westholme, nice to 'meet' you. No sorry needed.
But now you've 'met' me, who're you?
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activism in pictures
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Terri.
'Westholme' Frayne Rd, Amamoor. Pleased to make your acquaintance. |
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Arkin
Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| westholme wrote: | Terri.
'Westholme' Frayne Rd, Amamoor. Pleased to make your acquaintance. |
Oh, hi Terri. Sorry, didn't realise you'd replied until I dredged up this thread tonight to add some more Dam Tour info to it.
Dam tours are a bit like trainspotting to Ian and I now... so we decided to 'bag' another one last weekend. We went back to Paradise Dam [on the river previously known as the Burnett] for a more detailed look.
www.stoppress.com.au has Ian's story of the trip and loads more photos - including some up close of the 'fish elevator'.
The elevator didn't appear to be running during our visit, despite Beattie starting in parliament (June 06) that it has been successfully operational for several months.
The sheer mechanics and size of the elevator are about as far removed from a natural habitat as you'll get...
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it true that the water has receded so much that the fish coming off the fish ladder risk certain death by landing on ground, cement or hazardously shallow waters? |
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Arkin
Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 110
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| Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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It's very hard to tell exactly what would happen to the fish.
Firstly, we didn't see it operational, and we were around for a good few hours... so anything i say is guesswork only.
It looks like the cage travels up and down the tracks on the downstream side of the wall to a collection pool amid all that ugly construction area. When it reaches the top of the wall, i think it must move out over the dam body and then be lowered on some sort of cables. If this is the case, i'm not sure whether the cables are adjusted to suit the fluctuations in water levels.
What i also don't know is whether the cage submerses in the water for the fish to swim out, or if they are unceremoniously tipped out.
The body of water below where the cage would be lowered looks like it has enough water (hard to tell, but there's certainly some depth in that area), and it appears to be a vertical wall in that area, so it's unlikely that fish would be landing on the ground or cement.
That said though, if the dam lost much more water it would change things dramatically.
I have heard talk of birds staking out the elevator and waiting for captive food. We saw multiple flocks of thousands of birds in the dam area, so if this is true, fish wouldn't stand a chance.
One thing i think is very important is to refer to the contraption as an elevator rather than a ladder. The photos show what a mechanicanised, unnatural thing it is, and that should be more publicly known. Many still imagine it is a series of ponds, or similar.
So, sorry I can't give more info than this, if anyone else has knowledge, I'd love to know more.
I think I can summarise though in saying that there isn't much (if any) fish transit going on right now... To quote Jean Joss the 'elevator just moves fish from one non breeding area to another', so even if it were operational, I suspect the last thing on a fish's mind after being dragged over a wall in a metal tin (assuming they don't become a bird's smorgasbord) is "golly, I really feel like a shag!"
If this is Beattie's idea of raising the bar on environmental standards in dam construction, then he and the elevator are dead in the water.
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elaine
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 483
Location: Dagun
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| Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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A shag is probably the last thing(literally) that the fish will get - seeing as this is another name for the fish-eating cormorants that frequent large water bodies!
I wonder if the elevator will be operating during the Great Paradise Dam opening on September 1st? (Gosh, is the timing of this just coincidental to an election or what??!!) |
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 2628
Location: Amamoor
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| Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:00 pm Post subject: |
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| With the constant problems with the power grid and with power shortages perhaps the little fishies spend long periods of time stuck half way up, running out of Oxygen and overheating in the sun while constantly pressing the 'service' button to no avail. |
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westholme
Joined: 02 May 2006
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Location: Amamoor
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