Mackay Conservation Group released a report last week which shows that tens of millions of taxpayer’s dollars will be wasted if the proposed Urannah Dam west of Mackay goes ahead

The report is a review of 17 previous studies into the dam dating back to the 1960s, none of which have provided sufficient evidence to justify a new dam, yet the federal government has recently committed $3 million to an 18th feasibility study of the Urannah Dam proposal.

The report, An Economic Analysis Of The Urannah Dam Project, found that it is most likely that for every $1 spent on the dam, only 75 cents of economic benefit would be returned. Even the most optimistic scenario from previous studies shows that the Urannah Dam would barely break even.

The key findings of the report are:

• The Urannah dam is a more expensive option to deliver water for irrigation, the Galilee basin, and for the Bowen region;
• The Urannah dam is a cheaper option to supply water to the Bowen basin, however, there does not appear to be enough additional demand for water supply to warrant construction of another water source in the near future;
• The Burdekin Falls Dam costs $11.5M per annum less than the proposed Urannah dam at delivering the same economic outcome;
• The Urannah dam provides a return of $0.75 for every dollar invested assuming full consumption of water by agriculture and mining.

Robert and Terri Irwin interviewed about the Irwin's Turtle and the dam that will destroy its habitat on MixFM

Sign our petition https://www.mackayconservationgroup.org.au/protect_urannah_creek