AN alluvium report commissioned by South East Queensland (SEQ) Catchments in 2011 identified weaknesses in the flood-reconstruction work being carried out by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, but was not acted on by the department, according to SEQ Catchments CEO Simon Warner.
Mr Warner said the report was presented to the Department of Transport and Main Roads, as well as the Lockyer Valley Regional Council, relevant federal and state members, and affected landholders.
“It was presented later in 2012 and we did recommend that there should be some soft engineering works to try and build some resilience into that system, rather than just all the hard engineering that was being done,” he said.
“We continued to push for activities, but nothing came of it at that point.”
Mr Warner said SEQ Catchments received funding from the Reconstruction Taskforce to commission the alluvium report because of concerns raised about methods being used by the Department of Transport and Main Roads to repair roads and creek crossings in Lockyer Valley.
“That report identified some weaknesses in what was happening in the reconstruction process.
“Unfortunately we had another event in 2013 in which most of the weaknesses that were identified in the report basically came to pass.
“While it didn’t specifically say that circumstance would happen at Bertrams, it wasn’t surprising from reading the report that it did.”
“That report identified some weaknesses in what was happening in the reconstruction process."
John Bertram said he had tried to engage the Department of Transport and Main Roads to discuss the damage to his property, but said they have refused to acknowledge his concerns.
“Their decisions and their designs have caused a massive environmental, effect and the repercussions downstream are that it will increase the flow rate of the creek, causing increased sediment levels and potentially elevated levels of damage to all farms downstream in the years to come,” he said.
“If it (the damage) was the fault of the landholder, we would have been dragged into court for it, but when the shoe is on the other foot, they just ignore us.”
Mr Bertram said the department had replaced at least one of the crossings since the 2013 floods and also added some rock armouring to protect the creek banks near other crossings.
“These crossings cost about $1.5 million each to taxpayers and a month after the floods, RoadTek jackhammered one of them out because it failed completely.”
He said that the district now had two crossings valued at about $3m on the Mount Sylvia Road, which no longer have any water flowing through them.
“They would have to be the most expensive waste of taxpayer funds as sections of pavement ever constructed and not able to carry any creek flow.”
“At the end of the day they have to come to us with a plan and a timetable.
Mr Bertram says the creek, which now runs in a near straight line, needs to be remodelled to slow the flow of the water and avoid more erosion downstream.
“These problems will flow through to increased sediment in the Brisbane water supply and ultimately the Port of Brisbane.
“I would like to know what they intend to do to fix the environmental problem created as a flow-on effect from inappropriately designed structures.
“At the end of the day they have to come to us with a plan and a timetable. I would suggest that they need to modify the creek in some form, and that’s a major process that would probably require them to buy the property.”
Mr Warner said the creek system remained “very unstable” and said doing nothing would only cause bigger problems downstream.
“Our assessment and the assessment of the technical advisers is that it will cause further loss of agricultural land and public infrastructure if we don’t try to alleviate and build resilience back into the system. There is a real need to do something.”
Penelope Arthur
Journalist for Queensland Country Life at Roma.
Journalist for Queensland Country Life at Roma.
