All the good things that dams can do Series 3 of 3

 There is such a lot to say here but until our Parliaments holds a  proper inquiry into the disease of nibbyism , naysaying , consultation abuse and nit picking that now stiffles planning,  many of my words will be wasted . 
I am against careless demonising of earth excavations  , have stopped dams and planned and prosecuted new ones . I  would be the first to say water storages must be properly planned . 
Until Parliament realise that they have stuffed up the professional role of independent and widely consulting  public service advice on planning for the environment,  our great country of Australia will forever be ruled by the  noisy ,ignorant , incompetent and  predictable cynism from the Greens , Nimbys and half baked do-nothing,  fear everything nature worshipers.

Ask some questions. List some dams and we will compare notes . we can confess errors but the focus here is to honor the good decsions and encourage more of that . start thecelebration  here  and list your favourites .

Saving our roads - Soil Embankments series 2 of 3

The recent prolonged rain over many parts of eastern Australia have reminded many road users of the challenge of maintaining roads when water seeps into the foundation.



Sure,  I would be first to say every Council should be building roads with 100mm minus crusher run as it's  normally much more sustainable than using cheaper and smaller imported foundation materials. It's also true but many of our rural councils cannot afford to make the very best foundations,  having to use local soils like we all do. It's true that some rural and remote Shires( esp in NSW and QLD ) have shocking soils for road building and require much higher costs in imported materials, fabrics treatments and design.  

What Shires and agencies can do, which many have not been doing in recent decades ,  is remove grass and soil off road verges that are not steep enough to drain easily. 

Once the verges are steep enough, regular mowing , grading or other measures need to be used to prevent this growth and the predictable weakness that will develop in our road edges,

Excessive erosion  ( which I am not advocating) and runoff water quality impact from this more regular road formation grading can be resisted by better choice of verge materials and  proper table drain structures ; These are investments that pay off in less erosion,  lower maintenance and  much higher safety for road users, long term 

Dams aren't all bad First 1 of 3 posts

 We have all been ignorant and arrogant children. But having our parliament  run by those who have only ever learnt to recognize the faults of their parents are destined to repeat them .... and worse.
Having our public broadcaster (ABC) panic instead of reporting those in the know is evidence of a serious dumbing down and dominance of a  now fanatical ( losing their power ) media. 

Yes,   dams need to have bypasses that allow fish to breed upstream, and more : We are agreed on that point . Beyond that you have to think about lots more than fish and the complex business of living well and designing well in a dry place called the Savannah .
Yes,  many dams are still poorly planned ( and some quick fiz polys are as mad as ever in advocating them )but , PLEASE don't  be stupid enough to deny our grandchildren the opportunity to  plan for better dams .
Dams, for example can and do  improve water quality, prevent salinization and make flood and irrigation and proper soil management control possible .
Before you dismiss me find out how many independantly minded publicly sprited professional people still work in planning the environment. an eg 
If children never grow up or don't ever come to confession about their own ignorance,arrogance and projection of guilt onto others,  they will not learn and become tyrants in their own households ( should they be lucky enough to still be in one ) 
Take the Green ( notice i ama green )preoccupation with stopping dams .
As a soil water planner, I have worked to stop many dams,  but it's a form of modern simple minded madness to say that they are all bad.
Its a form of madness because bad as we have been in not planning them well, we can do better , We can inspire our children to help work with nature, not give into nature , all the time. You do it when you think or show some self restraint . 
All some easy being Green ever do is box up the complex into one one mad immoral box they label bad . Such shortening of a vision is childish and against all the rhetoric of science because science is about the how , not about the box label - the what .
Our deep thinking forefathers would have us focus on how we can possibly do something about the many real threats and risks in the real world . They would be aghast that many are so easily  frightened .  especially when its the fear generated by mere  inexperience and ignorance of nature -- all the difficulties we normally face in merely living are risk related and educating and training yourself in managing them is important for you and society to grow .The government and us will go broke if we let them continue to try and parent us. 

Dr Daniel Andrews will go into history as Helicoper Dan , He and his team are  the sort of suspect housemasters who thinks it's safer to put us all into prison than let us make choices. His huge incompetent committee of worry warriors will also go into history as the biggest and most mistaken group of play parents ever to rule Victoria .

Any way back to the subject of the day .

Our very wet land and huge  risk of flood damage . 


As is always appropriate in ecology - the concern below applies to one area - not everywhere .PDC  I will talk later about road embankments  and why they have failed so badly in Australia in 2022 later.


The Otways is the biggest landslide area in Australia due to highly weathered rocks and extensive marine sediments:  the greatest risk period being in our uniquely high rainfall month of October . One of the most common practical dangers of landslides is on dam and embankment walls.


Any earthen embankment over 2.5 metres in height and with a freeboard ( distance between water level and wall top ) less than a metre is at risk of wall failure. ( We saw an example this type of failure near Stroude only yesterday )


Dam outlets in large dams often need to be lowered because of grass mats growing in the outlet and subsidence in the wall itself. 

Adequate freeboard must be maintained with upper and lower bypasses to ensure the possibility of easy repair after floods . Proper engineering computations are required to ensure sound design .