QLD:Wivenhoe Dam head to front floods inquiry

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2012
QLD:Wivenhoe Dam head to front floods inquiry

By Kym Agius

BRISBANE, Feb 1 AAP - The senior engineer of Wivenhoe Dam will take the stand at the
Queensland floods inquiry on Thursday amid accusations the dam was mismanaged in the days
leading up to flooding in Brisbane and Ipswich.

The Australian newspaper has said the dam's operator, Seqwater, breached its manual
by failing to move fast enough to a higher water-release strategy, W3, which is designed
to protect urban areas from inundation.

It said this resulted in the dam banking too much water on January 8 and 9, the weekend
before the Brisbane flood, and officials were later forced to make huge releases quickly,
which caused flooding in the capital.

In light of the fresh allegations, the commission will hold nine days of extra hearings,
which begin in Brisbane on Thursday.

Senior flood operations engineer, Sunwater's Robert Ayre, and fellow dam operations
engineer, Seqwater's John Tibaldi, are due to give evidence on Thursday.

Mr Ayre gave evidence in the 2011 hearings that contradicts The Australian's claims.

He told the inquiry that the correct W3 strategy had been in use from 8am on Saturday
January 8 but it had only been "inadvertently recorded strategy W2" in a situational report.

The outcome of the inquiry could be a political headache for Premier Anna Bligh because
the Queensland government could be liable for a high damages bill if the dam operators
did not follow the manual.

Some of the Bligh government's top bureaucrats have been called on to give fresh sworn
statements to the inquiry, but have not yet been called on to give evidence.

They are the head of Ms Bligh's department at the time of the floods, Ken Smith; his
successor, John Bradley; water minister Stephen Robertson; Department of Environment and
Resource Management (DERM) director-general Jim Reeves, and DERM'S assistant director-general,
Debbie Best.

The Australian reported last week that Mr Smith had been aware that the wrong water
strategy was in use on the weekend before the Brisbane flood.

It said he received an email to that effect from the director of operations at Queensland's
water grid, Dan Spiller.

The opposition Liberal National Party seized on the claim and accused the government
of a cover-up.

The commission has been given permission from the government to hand down its final
report three weeks later than planned.

It is now due to be released on March 16, a week before voters go to the polls.

Ms Bligh said this week that she didn't care how ugly the truth was, and Queenslanders
deserved no less than that.

AAP ka/tab/wjf

KEYWORD: FLOODS QLD

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