THE Hills Shire Council has expressed support for the Warragamba Dam wall raising project, and will call on neighbouring councils including Hawkesbury to also support it.
On June 12, The Hills passed a Mayoral minute to support the ‘Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Flood Risk Management Strategy (Flood Strategy) to raise Warragamba Dam wall to provide flood storage and to educate residents with a flood awareness campaign’.
They will also write to Hawkesbury Council, among others, to ask for them to express their support for the plan to raise the wall by 14-metres for flood mitigation purposes.
In April, Hawkesbury Council held a testy debate on the subject.
The Council debated a motion, which was ultimately defeated, to ‘renew’ support of the project. In 1996, councillors at the time voted to support raising the dam wall.
The position of Hawkesbury Council’s Flood Risk Advisory Committee is to support the Resilient Valley, Resilient Communities project.
Part of that project is raising the dam wall, but it also calls for greater education for residents about the dangers of floods, and better evacuation routes.
in April, Hawkesbury Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett said, defending her vote to defeat the motion, that raising the dam wall was merely one part of a larger strategy.
