The river of no return

You really have to admire these pollies for their great research and expertise on subjects of fashionable interest in that moment of time.

Sue Napier’s concerns (HERE) regarding the Tamar silt situation is well outdated and the ability to locate a disaster area on a map does not mean you are familiar in the current scene of the crime.

Firstly I would like to give an update on the Tamargate situation, for more than a week now I have been intrigued by the actions of what is referred to by the experts as a dredge, but rather in reality a dainty little cosmetic suction pump on a barge as used on the canals of Surfers Paradise in the 1960s and a far cry from what was needed more than a decade ago.

Up until a few weeks ago this little sucker with its 8″ pipe was squirting the spoil from the river bed to the insecure holding ponds on West Tamar road on the doorsteps of residental homes where of course more than 60% was leeching back to the river and this endless process went on for around 5 years. I tried to break through the question barrier by writing to the now late city manager Frank Dixon after receiving a report on the recently constructed tidal barrier on the Singapore river to serve as a water conservation area along with providing a lake right in the heart of that modern city.

It confirmed my concerns after reading that the mandatory testing of the silts and sediments to be removed revealed that all spoil removed required to be covered by 2 metres of approved soil/sand to prevent any toxic leaching of the material, some cases were treated through a furness treament.

My reply from Mr Dixon was to say he had sent his experts to the West Tamar site and they had examined the river banks and no sign could be found of the ooze escaping back to the river and secondly the Tamar spoil was O.K. as it was being offered as garden soil.

I then mentioned I felt an inquiry into the matter would perhaps be a more prudent idea to which a reply was never received.

Secondly to Sue, with your silt knowledge can you explain the new techniques being used by the so called dredge over the past couple of weeks? The unique process has me enthralled, why is the material being pumped back directly into the river some 500 metres in front the remarkable dredge simply to be recycled? Surely your reliable information team can whisper what is happening there also that this farce has been going on for some 5 years; the river has won the game outright by 10 – 1 but at what cost.??

Forget the party line’s one liner, More dredging! More dredging! I would think that even a hinted suggestion of an inquiry now would win more votes than grasping this old material that been repeated for so many years.