- Logging of Otway forests dramatically decreases the water available
to the region from Geelong, the Bellarine Penisula, Great Ocean Road,
inland towns and Warrnambool.
- For a long time there has been a debate about the effects of logging
on water supply catchments. Despite continuing community concern over
the impacts of logging and strong scientific evidence that logging reduces
water yields, the new Victorian Labor Government signed a Regional Forest
Agreement in March 2000 that contemplated an acceleration of the rate
of logging in Geelong’s main water supply catchment
- Due to an ALP election promise to conduct hydrology research, the
State Government commissioned consultants, Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM),
to examine hydrology issues in the Otways Native Forest
- The SKM report of December 2000 concluded that if logging in Otway
native forest catchments was stopped, water yields would increase between
10% (for Geelong’s West Barwon catchment) and 28% (for sub-catchments
within Warrnambool’s Gellibrand catchment).
- For Geelongs water supply, a 10% gain
in water runoff for the West Barwon catchment if logging was stopped
translates into a gain of 170 billion litres over the next 100 years
- enough water to supply the entire water needs of a town the size of
Colac every year
- For Warrnambool's water supply, logging
threatens the reliability of the Gellibrand river summer flow. This
is a big concern for the dairy industry.
- OREN has conservatively valued the expected water losses in the West
Barwon at $12 million (Net Present Value method). In comparison, the
value of woodchips and sawn timber to be taken from the West Barwon
is between $2 million and $9 million depending upon the method of valuation
used.
- Further, the loss of water due to logging adversely affects the whole
community, whereas the value of woodchips and timber benefits only a
few private interests
- In addition to the loss of water, logging practices in the Otways
are creating significant water quality issues, due particularly to the
construction of logging roads in areas at risk of land slip.
- The logical and inevitable conclusion is that all logging in Otway
forested catchments should cease immediately. This precedent has already
been set by Colac (which has a completely closed water supply catchment
where logging is banned) and by Melbourne (90% of Melbourne’s water
comes from catchments where logging is prohibited)
- Finally, the hydrology issue raises serious questions about the stewardship
of Otway native forests. The current forest manager (the Forestry Division
of the DNRE) is so closely aligned to the interests of woodchippers
and sawmillers that other forest values such as water have been compromised.
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