Council Resolution - Warragamba Dam

27 July 2022

Hawkesbury City Council at its Council Meeting on 19 July 2022 considered a Mayoral Minute seeking urgent action in relation to the immediate use of Warragamba Dam for flood mitigation, and the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall as currently proposed.

Council resolved as follows:

That Council:

1. Request a meeting with the NSW Minister for Water and Mayors and MPs representing areas within the Hawkesbury-Nepean Floodplain, to advocate for Warragamba Dam to be immediately used as a Flood Mitigation Dam.

2. Again calls on the NSW Government to urgently proceed with the raising of Warragamba Dam Wall as currently proposed.

In keeping with the Council resolution, the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Patrick Conolly, has written to the local Mayors of The Hills, Penrith and Blacktown Local Government Areas, the NSW Minister for Water and Members of Parliament to convey Council’s recently resolved position in relation to the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall and to advocate for Warragamba Dam to be immediately used as a Flood Mitigation Dam.

As part of this, Mayor Conolly is also seeking an urgent meeting with the NSW Government, in collaboration with all relevant agencies, as a matter of the highest priority.

“The Hawkesbury has experienced multiple floods with floods in March 2022, April 2022 and July 2022 and and in February 2020 and March 2021,” Mayor Conolly said.

“The need for urgent action in this regard cannot be understated. The recent Flood events have highlighted the clear and present risks to the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and has heightened the need for immediate action.

“It’s time for a decision on flood mitigation – we need the NSW Government to raise Warragamba Dam wall now,” he said.

The current proposal being considered by the NSW Government is to raise the wall by 14 metres to protect communities in Northwest Sydney.

In 2017, the NSW Government released the Hawkesbury-Nepean Flood Risk Management Strategy – ‘Resilient Valley, Resilient Communities’. Both Hawkesbury and The Hills Shire Councils have supported this Strategy, which recommends raising Warragamba Dam to create a flood mitigation zone of 14 metres.

Under current legislation, Warragamba Dam provides for drinking water storage only, not flood mitigation.