Monday, November 24, 2008

Post Averted or is it?

Good old Andy, Some rain is forecast and the flood warning goes out on a number of rivers in Gippsland including some that have substantial storages:

Melbourne is on water restrictions, and the Bureau of Meteorology issues a
flood alert:
Flood Watch for East Gippsland Catchments (Mitchell, Tambo, Snowy, Cann and Genoa) Flood Watch for West and South Gippsland (Latrobe, Thomson, Macalister and Avon Catchments and South Gippsland Basin)

The Mitchell? Say, isn’t the river that flooded twice last year already, sending more water down to the sea in one lot than Melbourne uses in a year?

That’s the one:


But wait a minute. Did the river flood? Not according to the BoM:

Final Flood Warning for the Mitchell RiverFinal Flood Warning for the Dargo
River Issued at 10:00 AM on Monday the 24th of November 2008 by the Bureau of
Meteorology, Victorian Regional Office
Almost no rainfall has been recorded in the Mitchell River overnight, and
nosignificant rainfall is expected today. Some stream rises have occurred in
theMitchell River catchment, but no flooding is expected.
Mitchell River upstream of Glenaladale:The Mitchell River at Waterford
peaked at 2.65 metres [minor flood level 3.5metres] early Monday morning and is
continuing to fall.
Dargo River:The Dargo River at Lower Dargo Road peaked at 2.15 metres in
the last few hours, and is expected to fall during today.
Glenaladale:The Mitchell River at Glenaladale is expected remain below the
minor flood level[3.0 metres].
Bairnsdale:The Mitchell River at Rosehill is currently peaking around 4.5
meters. No flooding is expected in the Mitchell River at Bairnsdale

Watch this space. I am working on a post relating to the Mitchell Dam and how unreliable the River actually is for the supply of water based on facts.

7 comments:

Jayne said...

Isn't there a theory that piping the water from the Mitchell over to the Thomson Dam would work, or some such?
(All brain farted out to think properly atm :P)

dam buster said...

Jayne - Water can be pumped from the Mitchell to the Thomson Dam and then transfered via existing infrastructure to the Melbourne water grid.

My issue is that the Mitchell catchment is prone to the same reliability issues as the Thomson and other Gippsland catchments.

The health of the Gippsland lakes has to be included in the use of the River and to assume it can just all be transfered to Melbourne is short sighted.

dam buster said...

Other issue is cost. The north south pipeline is esitmated at $750million. A pipeline from the proposed dam on the Mitchell to the Thomson Dam is longer.

Bolt has talked about the dam costing at least $1.3billion, add the $0.8billion for the pipeline and you are well on the way to the desal plant costs.

Of course the economics of it all are a whole story in themselves.

Jayne said...

Ahh, ok, I'm up to speed with you now on the Mitchell.

That damn north-south pipeline is wasting water already with them using fresh drinking water to dampen the dust/dirt down, ffs.

dam buster said...

The transfer of water from the north of the divide was always considered the bit taboo in the Vic water industry.

The construction companies would have to have adequate licenses in place to use water for dust supression. It is an industry wide agreement. It is more likely that they have an agreement to take water from non potable (non drinkable) sources rather than straight tap water.

Jayne said...

They admitted in the paper the other day they used potable water, claiming they were "just following the rules", blah.

dam buster said...

Did they? geesh. not very smart.

there are some things in construction you need clean water to complete such as concrete. But dust supression can be achieved with dam water or recycled water.