Ian

You forgot Borumba Dam on the Mary River, currently at 88% and has been at 100% for the majority of the past 12 months. Didn't this fit your hypothesis? The dam with the greatest reserves is exactly where a new one should be built.

I think I smell a NIMBY.

From Banjo Patterson's 'Clancy of the Overlow"

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,

And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

The "vision splendid" is dry land.

The state of our dams – and not just in Queensland – is dismal. Ian is right to point out the absurdity of building more dams when the whole dam issue has been shown to be critically flawed.

But he examines one part of the water crisis in isolation. The building of new dams is not the only strategy being undertaken by Premier Beatty. There is a lot of effort going into the promotion of tanks and water conservation measures, along with quite severe water restrictions.

Beatty needs some commendation for this, although not without a lot of condemnation as well – for allowing the situation to get this grim, and for continuing to allow a completely unmitigated rate of population growth several years into an obvious major demand / supply crisis.

What exactly is the point of this piece? It's so badly written.

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better knowledge, sent to Brisbane where the big-knobs dwell and wisdom reigns supreme.

And an answer came directed in a writing fully expected – two lines, implying I was dwelling in some idealistic dream.

‘Twas his spin-doctor who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:

(and it may as well ‘ve been written with a thumbnail dipped in tar)

“This is Queensland you silly greenie – growth is our mantra - note it,

sustainability’s a load of rubbish - just remember where you are”

In my wild idealistic fancy I dream of a chance we could live in harmony with this ancient craggy land.

But the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me, and the big-knobs show nothing to suggest they understand.
.

Ludwig L (with copious apologies to ol’ Banjo)

Solving water and power problems.
I feel there is an excellent opportunity to generate a significant quantity of 'Green' power for Southern Australia by flooding Lake Eyre and using the ebb and flow of the tide to drive turbines.
Bradfield suggested that a flooded Lake Eyre would generate clouds and then rainfall across Eastern Australia. Quite a deal of research has already been done by Adelaide University but unfortunately, Lake Eyre has never been filled for sufficient time to collect rainfall data of significance. But this research shows that the preferred method of allowing seawater into Lake Eyre is through Lake Torrens from Port Augusta which only requires a channel of about 200 kms.
Some of available reports suggest that a more potent reason for flooding the lake would be in order to generate power. Now 200 kms of channel with tidal flow in and out would enable, say 40 Tidal power stations to be built at spacing of 5 kms. Coupled with this there would be many sites around the new Lake suitable for Wind Power generation. I suggest scholarships be given to PhD students to look at the proposals. If there is increased rainfall then we would have a bonus and the increased flow down Coopers Creek and Diamantina River would over time flush the excess salt out of the Lake. If the increased rainfall is not sufficient to flush out the salt, then much further down the track, we may need to look at diverting small flows into Cooper’s Creek and the Diamantina River. Cloud seeding has been effective in Tasmania and the Snowy Mountains and could assist here.
We cannot afford to neglect any possible avenue that can provide a solution.