Flood measures

The following letter to the Editor appeared in this weeks Messenger, but not in the eastern Courier. Mr Pearce's point is well made and many Unley residents would appreciate his anger and concern. I keep hearing the phrase that all Councils agreed to pursue a no dam solution, initially by using culverts and more recently investigating both clearing the creek bed and widening the creek bed. Councils only agreed to one final alternate solution to be investigated. This debate has gone on for too long and needs to be resolved and funded as soon as practicable



Flood measures 
Mitcham & Hills Messenger, Adelaide 
 LAST week, Mr Bellchambers of the "No Dams" group responded to Mr Mossel's letter, regarding downstream flood measures. Let us examine the two correspondents.
 Mr Bellchambers is one of 10 households living within 1km of any proposed dam.
 (These are never threatened by flooding.) Mr Mossel, on the other hand, is one of 6921 families that live under constant threat of flooding downstream.
 Antagonism to the "no dams" position is strong.
 People see injustice: the viewing preference of the few putting 20,000 downstream citizens at risk.
Why block the engineering solution of choice - Ellison Flood Control Dam (tucked around a corner, hidden from view, on degraded agricultural land)?
 Mr Bellchambers is mistaken: five councils rubberstamped recommendations by permanent council staff.The basis for these recomendations (underpinned by a "cheap" criterion) should be released to the hundreds of property owners (facing eight-metre easements, garden destruction, concrete linings and property devaluation) to scrutinise the basis of their victimisation.
The "No Dams" group are silent on environmental degradation that will decimate kilometres of creek channels, causing loss/dieback of mature trees (to substitute for eliminating floodcontrol dams). Furthermore, urban contribution to flooding is dwarfed by the creek's upper catchment run-off, a run-off managed by the Ellison Flood-Control Dam.
Flood control at the source makes sense.Are flood control dams new? The Sturt Gorge dam has been providing flood protection to Marion citizens for 50 years with minimal maintenance. ......

 TOM PEARCE, Brownhill Socket Save Our Creeks Environs Trees