Water Legislation (Dam Safety) Amendment Bill 2016

Introduced: 30/11/2016By: Hon M Bailey MPStatus: PASSED with amendment

Safety & Emergency Environment Regional Queensland

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Plain English Summary

Overview

This bill updates Queensland's dam safety laws after community concerns about how flood releases from Callide Dam and Wivenhoe Dam were handled in 2015. It makes dam owners responsible for warning downstream communities (not just notifying them), gets local councils more involved in checking dam emergency plans, and lets dam owners lower water levels when engineers find safety risks. It also cuts red tape for small dam owners and reduces overlap with workplace and mining safety laws.

Who it affects

People living or owning property downstream of dams and weirs should get clearer, earlier warnings when dams release water or face failure risks. Dam owners, local councils and district disaster groups take on new coordination roles, while around 100 small rural dam owners may avoid paying $15,000-$30,000 for their own failure impact assessments.

Key changes

Dam owners must warn downstream residents about releases and tell them what to do to protect life and property, not just notify them that water is being released
Local councils must check dam emergency action plans against their own disaster plans within 30 business days, and district disaster groups can also review them
Dam owners gain an explicit power to reduce a dam's full supply level on engineering advice without breaching their water licence
The department can declare a dam 'referable' by notice, sparing small dam owners from a costly failure impact assessment unless they disagree with the finding
Workers at workplaces and mine sites are excluded from the 'population at risk' count, removing overlap with workplace and mining safety laws
Dam and weir owners can place warning signs on public land downstream to alert people to the dangers of entering those areas
The Minister's process for declaring a temporary full supply level at Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine Dams is streamlined, with the same decision criteria

How this affects you

Safety & Emergency

•If you live downstream of a dam, you should get clearer warnings telling you when and how to act to protect yourself, not just that water is being releasedClause 18 (s 352H)The emergency action plan must state when and how the dam owner plans to warn persons who may be harmed, including what actions they should take.
•Your local council must check the dam's emergency action plan against its own disaster management plan within 30 business daysClause 18 (s 352HB)Local government must assess the emergency action plan for consistency with its disaster management plan, in consultation with its local disaster management group.
•Dam owners can lower a dam's water level when engineers identify a safety risk, reducing the chance of failure before an emergency developsClause 28 (s 399B)A dam owner may reduce the full supply level based on advice of a registered professional engineer that there is an unacceptable risk of failure.
•You may see new warning signs on public land downstream of dams and weirs telling you about the risks of entering those areasClause 6 (s 36)Authorised persons of service providers can enter public land that adjoins a watercourse or lake downstream of a dam or weir to erect warning signs.

Environment

•Dams that only risk the property owner or on-site workers will no longer be double-regulated under water supply laws and workplace safety lawsClause 11 (s 346)Residents on the dam's parcel, workers at the workplace, and people at mine sites are excluded from the 'population at risk' that triggers referable dam status.
•The Minister can still temporarily lower full supply levels at Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine Dams to help manage floods or droughtsClause 27 (s 390)The Minister may declare a temporary full supply level if impacts of a potential flood or drought may be mitigated.
•If a dam keeps operating at a reduced water level for more than a year, the owner must report on impacts to water security and customersClause 28 (s 399C)Owners must report annually on impacts to customers and on achieving water plan outcomes under the Water Act.

Regional Queensland

•Around 100 small rural dam owners flagged as potentially risky can accept a government notice instead of paying $15,000-$30,000 for their own engineering assessmentClause 8 (s 342A)The chief executive may give a referable dam notice stating a reasonable belief the dam would have a category 1 or 2 failure impact rating, which the owner can accept rather than commissioning a failure impact assessment.
•If you own a farm dam and disagree with a referable dam notice, you can still commission your own failure impact assessment, and the government pays if the dam turns out not to be referableClause 12 (s 348)The chief executive must pay the reasonable cost where a failure impact assessment shows the dam has neither a category 1 nor category 2 failure impact rating.
•Communities in the 35 local government areas with referable dams gain a formal role for their council in reviewing dam emergency plansClause 18 (s 352HA)Dam owners must give a copy of the emergency action plan to each affected local government and district group before submitting it to the chief executive.

Bill Journey

Introduced30 Nov 2016

First Reading

Committee

Committee Report21 Feb 2017

Committee report tabled

Second Reading

In Detail

Third Reading

Royal Assent19 May 2017

Referenced Entities

Sectors Affected

Agriculture Disaster Management Water Resources Local Government Water Supply

Classified using AGIFT/ANZSIC Australian government standards

Water Legislation (Dam Safety) Amendment Bill 2016

Plain English Summary

Overview

Who it affects

Key changes

Bill Journey

Referenced Entities

Legislation

Organisations

Programs & Schemes

Places

Roles & Offices

Sectors Affected

Source Documents