![RIVER RIFT: Brian Farmer on the banks of the Williams River behind his Clarence Town home. PICTURE: Jonathan Carroll. RIVER RIFT: Brian Farmer on the banks of the Williams River behind his Clarence Town home. PICTURE: Jonathan Carroll.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Hw4diqMS6vE7dLX3uHPVX/4120f061-3411-40c6-a2e6-59b16baaaa65.jpg/r0_783_5184_3340_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A study which recommends a boating ban on the Williams River to prevent bank erosion has been labelled as flawed and its recommendations should be ignored.
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Clarence Town resident and engineer Brian Farmer, said the study, carried out by the University of NSW’s Water Research Laboratory in its current form, is poorly put together and its stated conclusions unsustainable.
Mr Farmer, who lives on the river and is not a “boatie”, said he wants the right decisions for the right reasons to solve the riverbank’s erosion problems.
He has also pointed out that earlier reports that Hunter Water has announced boating restrictions for the Williams River are factually incorrect.
“What Hunter Water has announced is that this study report is now available for public comment and that its primary recommendation is that boating activity be curtailed,” Mr Farmer said.
Hunter Water, Transport for NSW and Roads and Maritime Services are the three key stakeholders in the study.
He also said the study asserts that there is diminishing water quality in the river but it does not identify or quantify what the problem is.
“The study provides no links between declining water quality, river bank erosion and boats,” Mr Farmer said.
“Further, previous studies have positively stated that power boating in the Seaham Weir Pool has no significant role in declining water quality.”
Some of the problems relate to the static water level in the weir pool. A past government study has recommended the complete removal of the weir structure itself.
“Even if there were a problem, RMS has reported a drop of about 75 per cent in the number of boats that use the river and the study does not provide any justification for its conclusions against this already substantial reduction in boating,” Mr Farmer said.
“The study says the main factor of the riverbank erosion is floods and in April last year we had a doozy.
“The study takes the position that whatever the problems with the river, they can be fixed by banning boating activity. This report ignores more significant casual effects of bank erosion such as flooding, cattle, wind induced wave energy. Power boat activity is not the primary cause of erosion except in a few limited areas,” Mr Farmer said.
“And in those areas, RMS needs to provide some of its available boating money matched by Hunter Water Corporation funding to sustain the impacts of it taking bulk water from the river, particularly when it does so without payment.
“It is also hard to substantiate a report as unbiased when the authors of the study themselves acknowledge that wave impacts alone are the focus of the study, that boat usage information was unavailable, changes to riverbank fencing were unknown and that it was difficult to distinguish aspects of riverbank revegetation,” Mr Farmer said.
He added that the social and economic impacts of restricting boating activity also needed to be taken into account given the tourism revenue generated by boating can make a significant contribution to local and regional economies.
“Transport for NSW said two years ago that such impacts would be assessed, that rock armouring costs and benefits would be investigated and that power boat activity would not be restricted.
“Unfortunately this study report does not address any of these issues.”
A spokesperson for Hunter Water said Hunter Water has more than 25 years worth of data showing the water quality in the Seaham Weir Pool is declining.
“Erosion of the riverbanks is a primary cause of water quality decline. The data shows for example a 50 per cent increase in phosphorus levels, which Hunter Water is currently responding to via treatment at Grahamstown Water Treatment Plant,” the spokesperson said.
A Hunter Water spokesperson said the recent research which found that high powered boating, sparse vegetation, and stock access are primary causes of the erosion of the Weir Pool was independently undertaken by the University of NSW, and jointly funded by Hunter Water and Transport For NSW.
“If Mr Farmer believes the waves created by high powered boating are not contributing to erosion of the Seaham Weir Pool’s riverbanks he should submit his view to NSW Roads and Maritime Services, which is currently accepting community feedback,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Farmer strongly encouraged people to read the study and lodge their submissions which close on November 20.