A study completed by Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) on the potential economic benefit of building the Apsley Dam concludes there is significant scope for additional water to diversify and grow Walcha’s economy.
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The report says the dam would attract new enterprises (intensive agriculture and processing), increase the output of existing enterprises (livestock, fodder and aged care facilities), and therefore increase local gross regional product and employment.
A case study scenario for a 25GL dam, resulting in increased production in beef, dairy, aged care, and fishing tourism, plus an expansion into glasshouse vegetables, turf and potato growing produced a12% increase in employment (156 new jobs) and an 11% increase in gross regional product ($22.5M) for the Walcha economy.
Walcha presently has a town water supply from the Macdonald River (part of the Murray Darling Basin) which fails to meet town water security parameters.
According to the report the total town water demand is 0.206GL in an average year and 0.23GL in a dry year. This exceeds the historical secure yield of 0.108GL/pa available to the Walcha water supply system.
Following the recent dry years and resulting water restrictions imposed by Council, residents are concerned lthe ack of water security is holding the town back in terms of economic development and population growth.
Climate change is also impacting negatively on existing agricultural enterprises which are the mainstay of the Walcha economy.
Access to secure water with the potential to irrigate on existing farms, and attract new water dependant enterprises to the region is viewed as critical to halt the decline in population in our Local Government Area, especially amongst the working age population. In the RDANI study, the economic returns (gross revenue, gross margins where possible, regional flow on effects) per ML of additional water have been estimated for several existing and potential new intensive farming enterprises which bring very high returns per ML of water .
At its ordinary March meeting Walcha Council supported the submission of the final Apsley Dam Economic Benefit Study to NSW DPI Water for their approval and agreed to send a copy of the study to the Local Federal Member’s Office, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP.