AS water rushes over the spillway at Ben Chifley Dam for the first time this year, our attention again turns to the question of whether or not the wall should be raised again.
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A second raising of the dam wall remains a goal of Bathurst Regional Council, but the proposal must be given careful consideration before any final decision is made.
The wall was last raised in the year 2000 and that project has been considered an unqualified success.
The wall was raised five metres to almost double the capacity from 16 million litres to just over 30 million litres, creating one of the more secure water supplies in the state.
That increased capacity is a major reason why Bathurst residents have never had to endure water restrictions, even during the worst of the drought around 2005 when our neighbours in Orange were on extreme Level 5 restrictions.
The project also ensured the council at the time – led by former mayor Ian Macintosh – gained a reputation as one of the best and most progressive councils this area has seen.
But if council was to revisit this project, just how useful would it be?
By our calculations, the dam has been full for about three years in the 15 years since the wall was raised in 2000.
At that rate, there would be many years to come where the money spent on the project has effectively been wasted.
A higher dam wall would also likely mean even fewer releases to keep the Macquarie River at a reasonable flow, a prospect sure to anger local environmentalists.
So despite the possible benefits, raising the dam wall is not all upside.
The last thing we want is to see one of the city’s great engineering success stories turned into one of its great white elephants.
