floods, says the city needs new dams solely for water supply to allow
Wivenhoe to fulfil its original flood mitigation role.
Wayne Land, who lost his family home and a rental property in the
floods, has made a public submission to the Queensland Floods
Commission of Inquiry.
The inquiry has begun releasing public submissions on its website this week.
In his submission Mr Land said the Brisbane flood was a "totally
avoidable event".
"Another major dam is required to provide for Brisbane's water supply
security, so that Wivenhoe's flood compartment capacity can be
increased," he said.
"No new dams have been built in the last 22 years in southeast
Queensland, since 1989.
"Ironically, 1989 was also the same year that the Goss government
decommitted from the proposal to build the Wolfdene Dam."
Mr Land said the Wolfdene Dam proposal should have gone ahead.
"(It) was regarded by engineers as a near-perfect dam site and clearly
the best dam site to provide water security to southeast Queensland
... the proposed capacity of Wolfdene was to have been around that of
Wivenhoe," said.
Mr Land said the Brisbane floods could have been much worse.
"Had Wivenhoe's dam wall been breached, we may have been looking at a
large-scale human tragedy in Brisbane, not just through the flooding,
but also through the aftermath of a lack of ongoing water supply to
service the (remaining) population," he said.
He said there were also minimal flood mitigation plans surrounding
southeast Queensland rivers and creeks.
"There appears to be few, if any, public documents which exist on the
subject of flood mitigation strategies for either the Bremer River or
Lockyer Creek, both of which were major contributors to the 2011
Brisbane flood," he said.
Mr Land said the Queensland Water Act 2000 needed a revamp.
"(It) is woefully deficient in laying out more specific
responsibilities on the Queensland Water Commission, DERM or other
agencies for flood mitigation and development of specific
plans/strategies," he said.
"From discussions with water-planning personnel employed by the
government, the philosophy seems to be 'all rivers and streams flood,
our strategy is to let them. All we can do is to have local councils
prescribe proper building controls to mitigate the effects of
flooding'."
He said this philosophy was an "abject failure of our government, its
leadership and investment priorities, and fails to exploit the
strategic role of the engineering profession, being to solve problems
for our society."
"There is a total lack of focus, culture and hence genuine strategy
development within our government entities on real flood mitigation
strategies," Mr Land said.
"Instead, through lack of state government leadership, councils then
become forced to use the "blunt instrument" of development controls,
most typically the Q100 building regulations which force property
owners, at their own expense, to build above flood levels.
"This is not the way to go. Instead, this culture must change and real
work and real investment must be made on flood mitigation solutions."
Mr Land also called for clearer insurance definitions for flooding.
Public hearings will begin in Brisbane on April 11.
The commission is due to report back its initial findings and
recommendations in August, ahead of the 2011-12 wet season.
Submissions can be viewed at www.floodcommission.qld.gov.au/.
