This section is designed to draw attention to the decision making process of our
Leaders on the entering into and emergence from a rare period of "uncommon
events" in the life of the Wivenhoe Dam. In my view they are quite similar,
one being made in a time of "plenty" and the other when the
"plenty" was withdrawn.
Once the myth of the "worst drought in 100 years "
is dealt with and uncommon events are understood, the decision to cancel the Wolfdene Dam comes into stark
perspective.
The Dam was cancelled in early 1990 shortly after a change of
Government in December 1989. The Wivenhoe dam had been in operation for four
years.
Wivenhoe was clearly a storage and flood mitigation dam for the 
Somerset
and was positioned below the Somerset on the Stanley and Brisbane Rivers
junction. The chart outlining
the Summer Rains for the last 96 years supports this contention. In its
own right it provides little to our water supply except for infrequent "uncommon events". The
Somerset has a much more efficient catchment although much smaller in capacity
and catchment area. Nevertheless, with higher rainfall, it provides most of our water supply. Reference
the "Wivenhoe Dam" button .
The Water Engineers and Hydrologists were obviously aware of this.
The Courier Mail has made mention of a Key advisor on water being a world class
Engineer and Hydrologist involved in research and recommendations for all of the
State's major Dams including the Wivenhoe and Wolfdene dams.
The Government had purchased
all of the land required for the Wolfdene dam. In dispute were a few blocks on
the thirty year mark. Reference is direct contact with the Dam Manager at that
time though our common interest in school activities. He and his Chairman were removed shortly
after the New Government took over.
I understand the Wolfdene Dam was to be a major Dam in the
category of the Wivenhoe as described in the pages of the Courier Mail. It was to be located just south of Brisbane.
The
Gold Coast Bulletin leaves one in no doubt as to their position on the
cancellation of the Dam, the reasons why and who they believe is
responsible. The Bulletin appeared unaware that the people mentioned went to the
1989 election on the basis of cancellation of the Wolfdene Dam and supported by
the Liberal Party.
The Gold Coast Bulletin has arrived at a conclusion that they
lost control of their water asset, the Hinze Dam, because of the lack of
planning of the people mentioned. The Bulletin appeared unaware of uncommon events
in the same way that our current leaders are. The past decision makers mentioned
on their front page appear to have overlooked, or have been completely unaware
of the implications of the natural occurrence of uncommon events of 1988 and 1989 referred to later in
this section.
To add further balance to this subject, SEQWater operations manager
drew our attention to four uncommon events 
occurring in the years 1986 to 2001.
1986 was the start of the Wivenhoe and the inflows of 1992 and 1999 were readily
identified by him. See the last three paragraphs.
In 1988 in the single month of April, a non-summer
month, a high Rainfall of 440mm occurred. Being a non-summer month is rare in itself. It
was followed by a similar event in April of 1989 of 564mm. These events were sufficiently
large to fill the dams. At that early stage the Dams were full and overflowing.
The last of these two events were seven months before the
election.
In retrospect, this very high level may have been sufficient to draw
incorrect conclusions against the advice of the Engineers and Hydrologists. This advice must
necessarily have been
present when the land purchase was proceeding.
This was followed up by the large inflows of 1992, 1996 and 1999
which filled the dams and buried the view of heavy and steady population
growth's requirements and the implications of the cancellation of the Wolfdene
dam.
Conclusion
The Wolfdene Dam cancellation is central to - entering into
and emergence from a rare period of "uncommon events"
We have seen that the cancellation of the Wolfdene dam has
denied us the provision of water except on a restricted basis. The decision
relates to the entering this rare period of 5 uncommon events in 12 years.
We are now seeing that as we emerge from this period, our
current leaders attribute it to a "drought" with all the decisions
being made on this basis.
The solution lies in the harnessing of the surpluses from
these uncommon events. This web-site provides the solution.
