THERE have been a few proposals about the alleged hazard posed by the failure of Dumaresq Dam at Armidale.
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When this was mooted about two years ago, our little tea room had a discussion and realised we had little data on the current state of the dam.
One of our number offered to paddle out and do some soundings to determine the depth of the water.
It was subsequently found that although the dam wall was about 11 metres when constructed in the 1930s, siltation has reduced the depth to between 5 - 5.5 metres.
Therefore the volume of the dam and the depth of water is less than half the anticipated design.
Did Armidale Dumaresq Council grid the water storage and analyse the depth of the water in cross section to determine volume?
Or did they, instead, provide an estimate of the volume based on very old data?
Currently I believe the dam is at least two metres lower than our survey done in 2012.
As a result of Council’s subterfuge with proposing to raise the rates by 10 per cent in 2014, and ratepayers finding we have to pay 12.5 per cent, there will be an extra $10 million in council coffers over the next five years to pay for remediation of the dam to a level suitable for community recreation.
I propose telemetry laser monitoring station in the wall to determine if there is any movement ( I hope this is already there because it has been standard practice for at least a generation).
Secondly, two or three 30 centimetre drowned suction siphons that can rapidly reduce the water level if in the unlikely event of earthquake and movement of the wall, these are also old technology and used in irrigation areas for 40 years.
Unfortunately, due to their treachery, Armidale City Council cannot be trusted to deliver community-based outcomes such as rejuvenation of the area of the dam for the city.
They are so impotent they can't even fix the loo.
Philip Gardner
Armidale
