A dam on the Mary River threatens our World Heritage.

If a dam at Traveston Crossing had been operating during 2006/2007, flows from the Mary River to the Great Sandy Strait would have been reduced to less than 25% of the natural state. Yet the Queensland Government says the Great Sandy Strait, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island would not be affected.

The impacts on the Great Sandy Strait and RAMSAR wetlands have not been adequately addressed. Rainfall is predicted to decline and if it were to fall by only 10%, stream flows into the dam would be a cut by a third. Further reductions in environmental flow would be inevitable.

Already, worrying trends across the last decade have seen the Mary River flows cut by around half, similar to what has occurred in the Murray River system.

The dam threaten the survival of a number of endangered species, notably the Queensland Lungfish, Mary River Turtle and Mary River Cod with only untested mitigation measures being proposed. Announcing a Centre for research into these species is a welcome move but this research needs to be carried out before contemplation of a dam rather than after one is built.

Traveston Crossing Dam would, at best, supply less than 10% of SEQ’s future water needs. There are viable alternatives, not adequately considered by the government, that would give South East Queensland a truly secure and ecologically sustainable water supply with significantly lower triple bottom line impacts.