Friday, June 21, 2013

Flood Mitigation & Wind Farms


Forres appears to be a town subject to lots of flooding judging by the number of flood mitigation projects I have bumped into and the rivers that run through the area.  Reading the signage I am amazed to discover that the budget of one of these projects exceeds the entire budget of NSW! 

I have also been interested to learn about the conflicts surrounding some of the environmental projects proposed for this area.  The development of wind farms seems to be high on the agenda here.  However, they are proposed within the Findhorn Catchment and the construction of the massive foundations needed to support these wind farms (it apparently requiring 1000 tons of cement to house a 300ft turbine) seems to result in the drying out of the surrounding peatland, which acts as a sponge when left undisturbed.  The peatlands have to be drained before the wind farms can be constructed.  This results in causing flash flooding - the very thing that the flood alleviation schemes are trying to prevent. 

I wonder if this will be addressed before the wind farms go in?



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