Level-headed leadership – not logging and desal

In a time of crisis, common sense and strong leadership are vital. Victoria is facing a water crisis, yet the Labor government is failing on both counts.

The 2007 government decision to build a desalination plant at Wonthaggi short-circuited the community consultation process and by-passed cheaper, more sustainable water conservation methods, arriving at an expensive, inefficient and environmentally unsound solution.

Early in the crisis, common sense prevailed. The 2002 report, 21^st Century Melbourne: A WaterSmart City, identified that an end to logging in Melbourne’s water supply catchments would yield, on average, an additional 20 gigalitres per annum. It makes sense when you think about it – new plants transpire more water than mature forest. Water yield drops by 50 percent, and returns to normal about 150 years later.

By October 2006, the government’s Central Region Sustainable Water Strategy was still on the right track, with plans to increase production of recycled water at sewerage plants, to increase water reuse and to improve the efficiency of water usage, storm water harvesting and rainwater tanks. Public comment was invited, submissions received and reviewed. An independent panel assessed the strategy and found it “to be an impressive first step towards rigorous and effective planning to ensure the long-term sustainability of water resources in the Central Region”, that region covering an arc around Melbourne.

Desalination was also recommended for consideration, but the panel expressly warned against “hasty decisions based on incomplete analysis”, fearing this would lead to wasted investment, lack of community support and adverse water resource and environmental outcomes.

Nine months later, without offering the public a glimpse of background analysis – complete or otherwise - the Labor government announced plans for the $3 billion (now closer to $5b) Wonthaggi Desalination Plant.

That was in June 2007 and debate still rages over many aspects of the desal plant’s development, not least the choice of location. Wonthaggi’s sewerage effluent outlet is located 3km from the desal intake, causing risk of contamination. Prevailing Bass Strait currents are being cleverly utilised to provide ‘fresh’ sea water to the intake and flush away the salinated output, except for those months every year when the currents reverse, short-circuiting the process and reducing plant efficiency.

To achieve the ‘carbon neutral’ label, the plant’s sizeable greenhouse gas emissions will be offset with the purchase of renewable energy – a cost passed on to the consumer in water charges.

The plant is being constructed by the private consortium AquaSure in a public-private partnership (PPP). In September this year it was revealed in Parliament that the PPP includes ‘water security payments’ to AquaSure, even if Melbourne’s reservoirs are high enough not to require desal production. That is, consumers will be paying for water that is not being produced, as fixed charges on their water bills.

A gantry offshore associated with the Wonthaggi desalination plant

Added to this, the normal privacy rules don't apply to PPPs, as they are not public agencies, and we have seen secret memoranda of understanding between police and the developers to share private information about potential protesters, and now spying on the workers on site - including passing on tax file numbers.

Over the past decade, the Labor government has had ample opportunity to show its true colours in a crisis, to demonstrate strong yet fair leadership and a level-head approach in dealing with water security. It began with a nod to preserving water catchments and making smarter use of the resources we already have. It ended with Victorians paying for water that may not even be produced, in a deal they were never asked about.

Tall trees

A century ago, Gippsland settlers stand proudly round a giant tree they have ringbarked.

In 2008, in Tasmania’s southern forests, surveyors found the tallest known tree in Australia today. Standing 101 metres high, it is a magnificent find – higher than any tree we have known about for many decades. It is not, as some reports have suggested, the second tallest tree in the world - there are 16 trees in the US over 110 m in height, let alone 101. But Australia once had much taller trees.

On 21st February 1872, Victorian government surveyor and Inspector of State Forests William Ferguson reported to Mr Clement Hodgkinson, Assistant Commissioner of State Forests, on his inspection of “areas that had not been penetrated by the timber splitter or the woodcutter”: 


Some places, where the trees are fewer and at a lower altitude, the timber is much larger in diameter, averaging from 6 to 10 feet and frequently trees to 15 feet in diameter are met with on alluvial flats near the river. These trees average about ten per acre: their size, sometimes, is enormous. Many of the trees that have fallen by decay and by bush fires measure 350 feet in length, with girth in proportion. In one instance I measured with the tape line one huge specimen that lay prostrate across a tributary of the Watts and found it to be 435 feet from the roots to the top of its trunk. At 5 feet from the ground it measures 18 feet in diameter. At the extreme end where it has broken in its fall, it (the trunk) is 3 feet in diameter. This tree has been much burnt by fire, and I fully believe that before it fell it must have been more than 500 feet high. As it now lies it forms a complete bridge across a narrow ravine.

In other words, Ferguson measured the tree (in an area near Healesville) from its base to the point where it had broken off in its fall to be 435 feet (133 m) and did not measure its crown. Even at 435 feet, there is no tree on Earth known ever to have surpassed it. However, the information that the tree was still 3 feet in diameter at this point supports the estimate that the tree had been over 500 feet (152 m) high. This tree has become known as “the Ferguson tree”.

The tree found in Tasmania, like the Ferguson tree, is a mountain ash, although in that State they use the less impressive name “swamp gum”. Mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans – monarch of the eucalypts) is still today the world’s tallest hardwood and the world’s tallest flowering plant, but there were several nineteenth century trees any one of which, if alive today, would be the tallest tree in the world, and the largest of all was the Ferguson tree - listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest recorded tree.

The tallest Californian redwood currently standing is the newly-discovered ‘Hyperion’ of the Redwood State Park, standing 115.55 m tall (379 feet). The tallest North American tree ever known was a Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) measured at 400 feet (122 m). Unlike Australia’s Ferguson Tree, the giant Douglas fir was not professionally measured, so must remain a tantalizing anecdote.

Other Australian trees of which we have reliable records from the nineteenth century are: 


• A tree at Mt Baw Baw measured by surveyor G W Robinson prior to 1889 to be 470 feet (143 m). 

• The Centennial Exhibition Tree from the Menzies Creek area, which was measured after felling at 400 feet (122 m). This tree was felled so that its spectacular trunk could be dismantled and then reassembled to form a display in the 1888 centennial exhibition in Melbourne. 
There are good photographs of this tree in the State Library of Victoria.
• Fallen tree in the Dandenong ranges measured by surveyor David Boyle in 1862 to be 392 feet (119 m). Again the tree had broken in its fall, and Boyle estimated that the top would be another 30 feet, giving a total height of about 420 feet (128 m).

Trees which were huge but which would not top the highest remaining trees in North America are: 


• Thorpdale tree in South Gippsland, felled in 1880 and then accurately measured by surveyor G Cornthwaite to be 375 feet high (114 m) 

• Olongolah tree near Beech Forest in the Otways, which was measured by an unnamed Colac Shire Engineer on an unknown date prior to 1900 to be 347 feet (106 m). 

• The “Neerim Giant” was measured by a government surveyor to be 325 feet (99 m). It had a broken top, however, and must once have been considerably taller. It was destroyed by fire early in the 20th century.

In 1939 in Toorongo Forest, Noojee, another fallen tree was measured by Inspector of Forests, F G Gerraty to be 348 feet (106 m).

It is a source of shame for Australians that our forefathers destroyed giant trees which, if they were living today, would be wonders of the world. Many huge trees were destroyed, and for many there are no measurements. In some cases, the trees were cut down and simply burnt, often in places so inaccessible that they would never be useful for grazing.

Trees were hunted down, and the challenge of destroying these ancient giants was taken on with gusto. Old photographs of people in the forest almost always show an axe present. It was as if this was a statement of manhood against the uncivilised immensity of the forest.

What does it take to have tall trees grow? One factor is time. Hundreds of years are needed for the trees to grow, but this is after millennia of nutrients building up as trees grow and decay. Another factor is a large area of forest. Trees grow upwards when competing for light, and can grow very tall when protected from wind and storm by a large number of other tall trees.

Might there be still taller trees out there? Perhaps the tallest tree in the world? Who knows? In the past few years we have discovered several new species of trees in East Gippsland, the Wollemi Pine in the Blue Mountains, and the world’s oldest known tree on Mt Read in Tasmania. And now we have found a tree which tops any tree found in Australia for many decades. We are still finding things in the Australian bush that we do not expect.

But we have lost so much already. In the nineteenth century people knew no better, but we know otherwise now. We know that logging causes a loss of water yield for up to 150 years, we know that there are very few people employed by the industry, we know that the industry enjoys substantial public subsidies, we know that endangered species are killed by logging. And we know, following studies by Professor Brendan Mackey and his team at ANU that for each hectare we log we lose an average of 1000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere – after taking replanting into account. We know there are ready and viable alternatives, including the use of plantation timber. We know that the alienation of our nation from its land is causing immense environmental and personal damage, with logging providing the most dramatic illustration.

It is time to stop.

External Links

• Green Carbon - ABC's National Interest
• Eucalyptus regnans
• Hyperion
• The recently discovered Tasmanian tree - YouTube
• Some photographs of historic tall trees - DPI
• Greg Barber MLC speaks in parliament
• New species of stringybark found in East Gippsland
• New species of banksia found in East Gippsland
• New species of eucalypt found in East Gippsland

Why are we logging our water catchments?

Forest in the O'Shannessy catchment

Melbourne’s water supply is seriously compromised by the continued logging in Melbourne’s water catchments. At a time of water shortage, this cannot be justified.

Once, our water catchments were sacrosanct – and the public are still excluded. However, for the past 30 years, loggers have been permitted into our water catchments.

Around 12% of Melbourne’s total forest catchment is available for logging. 340 hectares can be harvested each year – approximately 170 MCGs.

Clearfelling occurs in five catchments which supply approximately 40% of Melbourne’s water needs.

The logging of native forest has a marked and well-documented impact on the water yield from the forest logged. As new growth establishes itself on the logged landscape, the new plants transpire much more water, and this reduces yield from the logged area. Yield drops to about 50 % of what it was, and it takes up to 200 years for the water yield to reach its former levels. In the meantime enormous quantities of water are lost.

As Vertessy, Watson and O’Sullivan (all attached to the Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology in Canberra, but also respectively from the CSIRO, California State University and Monash University) express it in their 2001 study:

There is a well-documented empirical relationship between stand age and water yield for mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forested catchments in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. Catchments covered with old-growth stands of mountain ash yield almost twice the amount of water annually as those covered with re-growth stands aged 25 years.

Set out below is the well-known Kuczera curve which shows the position graphically.

Once the mature forest is logged, the water yield drops by up to 50%, only returning to normal after an average of 150 years - and up to 200 years.

There are no generally accepted figures for the amount of water we currently lose from past logging in our catchments. However, stopping logging now will save us at least 15 gigalitres of water per annum between now and 2050, or enough water to fill 6000 Olympic-sized swimming pools every year.

Twelve Melbourne councils have now passed motions calling for logging of our catchments to stop.

The timber on this public land belongs to the public, but the royalties received do not cover the costs of facilitating the logging: we are effectively subsidising the destruction of these forests.

There is no sound policy reason for continuing to log Melbourne’s water catchments: it makes neither economic nor environmental sense.

Logging of Melbourne’s water catchments should end immediately. No consideration should have been given to the north south pipeline or the desalination plant while we continue to compromise the primary source of Melbourne’s water.

External Links

Research results for "Wood and Water" project

Greenlivingpedia

Victorian Rainforest Network

The Wilderness Society

Water Wars

The State government has announced an easing of water restrictions. What a relief. I guess that must mean, in the run up to the election, that the water crisis is over.

Melbourne’s storage reserves have fallen from near 100% capacity in 1996 to 33.9% capacity in April 2010. According to the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, within 10 years, climate change, continued population growth and drought could result in shortfalls of drinking water of approximately 100 billion litres per year for Melbourne alone.

And of course, there is no escaping the impact of the climate crisis on our water shortage. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria is now 1 degree hotter than it was in 1950. For each degree of temperature rise, we lose 15% of stream flow. We've now had 13 years hotter and drier than the long term average, and we've never had a run like this before. We are way out of our historical experience.

Faced with these challenges, the State government has

• built the north south pipeline to take water away from the stressed Murray Darling system and bring it to Melbourne;
• commissioned another brown coal burning power plant,
• announced that it will abolish our green wedges and expand the urban boundaries of Melbourne to take a population of 5 million, and
• continued to plan new freeways.

They have failed to offer the leadership we need in this crisis.

Premier Steve Bracks said on 13th November 2006, in the lead up to the last State election:

Recycling and conservation will secure Melbourne’s water supply ... The energy generation [of a desalination plant] is enormous, the intrusion on the community is enormous and, of course, it’s extraordinarily expensive ... really, what a hoax it is. We’re into long term solutions.


Despite this assurance, the Victorian government has committed to an unsustainable, high carbon intensive desalination plant. The Kilcunda desalination plant will produce 150 gigalitres per annum at a cost of over $4 billion and an additional 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 to Victoria’s annual greenhouse emissions. Water bills will double to pay for it.

Site of the proposed desalination plant at Kilcunda

For half of the cost of the plant, and a fraction of the carbon emissions, we could instead implement a 5 point plan for water:

1. Stop logging Melbourne's water catchments. The cost of stopping this is just a few million dollars. Stopping logging now won't recover what we've lost, but will save us at least 15 gigalitres per annum in lost water between now and 2050, or enough water to fill 6000 Olympic-sized swimming pools every year.
2. Introduce stormwater capture, treatment and use, saving 50 gigalitres of water, and even more with proper storage facilities.
3. Upgrade the existing Eastern Treatment Plant to Class A water, giving us an additional 72 gigalitres per annum
4. Government replacement of existing single flush toilets in Melbourne with dual flush, saving 15 gigalitres per annum
5. Introduce a 50% subsidy on water tanks, saving 25 gigalitres each year.

Rather than using the same kind of energy intensive solutions that got us into this mess in the first place, why don’t we try to be smart, innovative and sustainable, so Melbourne has enough water for the future, and doesn’t suck the rest of the State dry?

External Links

• Stop Logging Melbourne's Water Catchments
• Watershed Victoria
• Melbourne Water
• CSIRO's Tom Hatton on Water
• The Gist of It
• Melbourne water usage, Greenlivingpedia

The Last River

Rainforest at the Mitchell - photos by Robert Merkel at Larvatus Prodeo

I've just spent Easter at the Mitchell River - camping with three other families as we do each year. It is a very special time at a very special place.

In the whole of southern mainland Australia, there is only one major river not dammed anywhere along its length - Gippsland's Mitchell River. Eight rivers contribute to the Mitchell's flow, and it runs through a magnificent gorge before flowing out onto the rich river flats near Bairnsdale. The gorge and surrounding areas are now protected in the Mitchell River National Park.

The Mitchell has patches of rainforest, giant kanooka trees, and plenty of rapids for canoeists. It has many spectacular features, including the cliffline of the Amphitheatre and the numerous magic tributaries - all different - that flow into the gorge. The rich wildlife of the Mitchell includes kangaroos, emus and goannas. Koalas were once common but now are gone. There are some introduced animals - notably goats and deer. The birdlife is varied: last Monday we saw lyre birds, and also six cormorants drying their wings at the mystically beautiful pool where we swim.

In the 1870s gold prospectors dotted each bend along the river, and the packhorse supply trail now forms a wonderful walking track between Angusvale in the north and the Den of Nargun in the south.

In 1890 there was an attempt to dam the Mitchell near Glenaladale, but the structure was badly damaged in a flood before it could be completed, and the works were abandoned. The large unfinished stone walls still sit there with a gaping hole between them, and a powerful rapid formed by the shaped blocks which fell into the water.

In 1980 the Hamer government decided to dam the river at Angusvale, and built an expensively engineered road to cope with the heavy traffic. On its election in 1982, the Cain government opted to "defer indefinitely" the construction of the dam.

Today there are rumblings from Andrew Bolt and even some coalition politicians that damming the Mitchell would be a good idea - although why this is so when we can't find enough water to fill the dams we already have, who can say.

The Mitchell River is a precious legacy, and we should let it run free.

The Mitchell River near the Den of Nargun