A Forbes group has a raft of questions on the planned $650 million project to raise the wall of the Wyangala Dam.
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The Forbes Aboriginal and Community Working Party submission to the NSW Government's inquiry into the rationale for and impacts of new dams and other water infrastructure in NSW calls for more documentation surrounding the project to be made public.
The NSW and Federal governments last October committed funding to a promise to raise the wall of the Wyangala Dam by 10 metres and increase its capacity by 650GL.
The Forbes Aboriginal and Community Working Group asks that the business case, the Environmental Impact Statement and the hydrological modelling for the increased dam all be made public.
Their submission queries the impact on the Lachlan Regulated River Water Sharing Plan, and whether all water efficiency projects for the Lachlan Valley have been researched and considered.
"Our major concern is the enlarged Wyangala Dam will redirect 650GL from major flooding event away from the downstream environmental assets and place this water in storage for use by industry," the submission reads.
"For major bird breeding events to take place in the Lower Lachlan Wetlands a number of environmental events are required including depth, duration and lateral spread of river flood water.
"Given that major dam spill flood events are the only way these types of flows can be delivered to this region, we believe the enlargement of Wyangala Dam will severely impact water bird breeding events in the Lower Lachlan wetlands."
The impact on groundwater recharge downstream is also highlighted in the Forbes group's submission.
As reported more fully in Tuesday's Forbes Advocate, representatives of a group of 500 irrigators have expressed their approval of the Wyangala expansion to the inquiry.
The submission cites a report that highlights the need for greater reliability in Lachlan River system.
The Lachlan was one of three rivers systems identified in the State Infrastructure 2014 report as a priority inland catchment, being rated low for irrigation drought security due to the low / variable rainfall, high evaporation and limited storages.
Flood management was also listed as a priority due to the limited airspace in the dam.
"... From our point of view, it is important that the Government continues not only with this work but with all of the necessary investigations to enable the project to progress," Ms Ewing told the inquiry.
LachLandcare Inc chair Matthew Doyle has told the State Inquiry the organisation believes debate regarding the Wyangala proposal has become too focused on raising the dam wall and on providing more water to towns and irrigation communities downstream.
"Their needs for more water are respected; however, water storage and water extraction from the river is just part of a much bigger picture, a much bigger and more complex environmental and social jigsaw in the Lachlan," Mr Doyle said.
"In particular, we are concerned that the health of the catchment as a whole is not considered adequately in either the WaterNSW scoping study for the dam or the recently released draft strategy for water management in the Lachlan.
"The focus is on the dam wall and the area which is to be flooded behind the raised wall. The environmental impact statement [EIS] is focused only on a 10-kilometre zone around the dam itself."
