Wollondilly Shire Council and Mayor Matt Gould have enthusiastically welcomed the NSW Labor Government’s announcement that plans for the raising of the Warragamba Dam Wall have been scrapped.

The Government has announced it will not proceed with the project, taking into consideration the huge costs and environmental and heritage concerns, which have been highlighted for many years by Wollondilly Council and its partners who strongly opposed the raising of the wall by 14m for flood mitigation purposes.

Mayor Gould said, “This is a huge win for the Wollondilly Shire, the Burragorang Valley and the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, and particularly for our indigenous heritage and endangered species.”

“The area that would have been inundated as a consequence of the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall is almost entirely located within the Wollondilly Local Government Area, so the scrapping of this plan will help us protect our biodiversity and cultural heritage for future generations.”

“I’d like to give a big thank you everyone who worked alongside us during this long battle; including Mayor Mark Greenhill and the Blue Mountains City Council, Wilderness Australia (formerly the Colong Wilderness Foundation), Harry Burkitt, Gundungurra elders and Gundungurra traditional owners Kazan and Taylor Clarke.”

“We have stuck to our guns and good sense has won out in the end with the axing of this proposal. This is a massive relief for the people of Warragamba and the wider Wollondilly community as well, who will not have to deal with the impacts of construction and heavy vehicle movements throughout the Shire for this project.”

“We knew that the raising of the wall would not guarantee that communities in Western Sydney would be safe from flood events and commend the NSW Labor Government for its commitment to building levies and improving evacuation routes and emergency communications in the Hawkesbury-Nepean.”

“We are pleased to see that the Government is planning to a lower the maximum water level of the dam, creating a flood mitigation zone without needing to raise the wall; another one of the measures that we have been calling for.”

The project would have potentially cost $2 billion and would have put the Blue Mountains World Heritage listing at risk and damaged habitat for endangered species such as the Regent Honey Eater as well as Aboriginal sites and artefacts, with opposition to the plan also supported by UNESCO.  

Council’s advocacy over the years has included a series of community meetings, an ongoing social media and media campaign, letters to members of parliament, and meetings with environmental experts and indigenous representatives.

Council also provided a detailed submission on the impacts of the project to the 2021 Environmental Impact Statement and again submitted feedback to the Department of Planning and Environment’s Preferred Infrastructure Report in 2022.