Report outlines pipeline impacts exposed

FOLLOWING a decision to oppose the Sugarloaf Pipeline earlier this month, the Shire of Yarra Ranges has released its report on the expected impacts to the region.
The council commissioned the report to provide a summary of the anticipated social, economic, and environmental effects of the pipeline and how they related to the shire.
The report highlighted that the impacts of the pipeline would range in severity and duration but would depend on the final alignment of the project.
Social and economic impacts included in the report included the effect on tourism and business in the area during both the construction and operation phases.
“The project has the potential to affect a significant part of the regional tourism industry directly and indirectly in terms of possible restrictions on access to both individual properties and to key areas of the region,” it stated.
It said community perceptions of access difficulties may also have negative impacts on tourism and business.
In terms of agricultural impacts, the report said that the grape industry was likely to be the industry most affected.
“There are potential impacts of the project on the wineries and tourism attractions in the Dixons Creek district.
“There is a risk that visitor perceptions of it will reduce visitation to the attractions while distributing visitors to the other key winery areas in the Yarra Valley and Upper Yarra,” the report stated.
“This effect could disadvantage operators in one area of the Valley and advantage others without necessarily disadvantaging the Yarra Valley as a whole.”
The potential impacts of the pipeline construction on vineyards did not only focus on the tourism aspect in the report.
It illustrated that many wineries would be at risk of contracting the ‘current’ phylloxera (vine disease) outbreak due to construction machinery crossing over exclusion zones.
Dixons Creek resident and member of the 3775 Pipeline Group Lyn Mullens said that the group was pleased to acknowledge the recent motion of the shire to oppose the pipeline until water savings could be demonstrated.
Ms Mullens said the 3775 Pipeline Group was continuing to strongly oppose the pipeline and based its opposition on four basic principles.
She said that it is irresponsible to move water from one catchment to another, it is wrong to take water from a major tributary of the nationally significant Murray Darling Basin, there is no certainty that 74 gigalitres of water will be available for transfer and that any water saved from the upgrade should only be available to the communities, environment and irrigators of the Goulburn Murray region.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Ms Mullens said that it was extremely important that the environmental and physical impact of the proposed pipeline was recognised, along with the environmental, social and economic effects.
“We must stand united, offering each other peer support while continuing our efforts to stop the pipeline,” Ms Mullens said.