Acheron
Valley Watch Inc. is an incorporated not-for-profit community
group concerned with the well-being of the local communities,
natural and rural environments, scenic landscape and cultural
heritage of the Acheron Valley / Cathedral Range area, including
the Acheron River catchment.
Acheron Valley Watch engages in
activities that strengthen co-operation and communication with
planning and decision-making bodies, local residents and the
broader public.
Below: Acheron Valley Watch members workshopping next
years program.
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Concerned
with the North-South Pipeline and Water policies in general?
To view the different AVW submissions at Federal and
State level click here.
In December 2007 the Planning Minister decided that no Environmental
Effects Statement would be conducted. Instead, he appointed
an Advisory Committee to assess the Project Impact Assessment
report.
In April 2008, Acheron Valley Watch Inc. was invited to make
a presentation to the Advisory Committee - and some of our
concerns were considered
- i.e. the need to consider and assess impacts on endangered
species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act
1999 that are living in the Goulburn river downstream of the
water diversion point.
With respect to endangered species under the EPBC Act and with respect to the
river health of the Goulburn, Acheron Valley Watch Inc. has
also made further submissions to the EPBC referral unit in
Canberra and to Environment Minister Peter Garrett, directly.
Since his first decision of February 13, 2008, to treat the
North-South pipeline as a controlled action but without conducting
an Environment Effect Statement (EES), new scientific evidence
has emerged about the desolate state of the Goulburn and the
dramatic situation of the River Murray System. In two consecutive
letters we therefore requested that the Federal Environment
Minister re-consider his decision. Although on September 12,
2008 he decided to give the project the "go ahead", he added
17 conditions that partly address some of our worries.
AVW also made submissions to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Melbourne's
Water Future, because we think that the North-South Pipeline
will not contribute to a cost-effective and sustainable solution
of Melbourne's water supply:
If drought persists and there is a reduction in rainfall, the Food Bowl Modernisation
savings will not materialise as planned and there won't be
much water to be sent down through the pipeline. If, however,
future rainfall patterns return back to the long-term average
levels, Melbourne will have enough resources in its own catchment
that can be accessed more cost effectively than water delivered
through the North-South pipeline.
Finally, we also sent a submission to Canberra, to the Senate Inquiry on the
Coorong and Lower Lakes - that together with all the other
iconic wetlands of the Murray River are under threat from cumulative
impacts of projects such as the North-South pipeline diverting
water out of the River Murray catchment. In this submission
we also express our deep concerns about institutional and financial
arrangements of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP's). Set up
for large civil-engineering infrastructures such as the North-South
Pipeline, in their nature these arrangements have the potential
to create strong dis-incentives against water saving efforts
both at a supply and a demand level.
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