Will it flow this time ?  The LUNATIC EXTREMIST GREENIES will be frothing at the mouth.




The New Bradfield scheme proposes moving floodwaters from north to south, but its feasibility is in question
By state political reporter Allyson Horn Updated 58 minutes ago


PHOTO: Burdekin River. John Bradfield envisaged diverting water from the coastal rivers across the Great Dividing Range. (Andrew Brooks)

Queensland's Liberal National Party has thrown its support behind a reimagined plan to take "excess" floodwater from north Queensland, to provide drought-relief in western and southern parts of the state.

Known as the New Bradfield Scheme, it is based off an original plan from the 1930s, to divert floodwaters from the north down to Lake Eyre, using dams, pumps and pipes.

Tellingly, the original Bradfield Scheme never got off the ground, with governments over the generations rejecting its viability on economic, scientific and engineering grounds.

But the LNP is hoping its revitalised plan will be a vote winner and offer a "vision for the future" heading into next year's state election.

So what would the New Bradfield Scheme look like and could it work?

What is the Bradfield scheme?
Engineer John Bradfield first devised the Bradfield Scheme in the 1930s, with the aim of using a hydraulic system of dams, pumps and pipes, to send floodwaters from the coastal rivers of northern Queensland inland and across the Great Dividing Range to Lake Eyre.


PHOTO: A black and white image of part of Australia showing details of how the scheme would work. Under the scheme, water from the north would be diverted inland to grow crops such as rice and cotton. (Supplied)

The general premise of the New Bradfield Scheme remains the same, but the LNP has proposed some major operational changes to increase its viability.

Water would be drawn from the South Johnstone, Tully, Herbert and Burdekin Rivers, into the Hell's Gate Dam in north Queensland.

The height of the dam would be almost doubled to increase capacity and allow natural gravity to take the water, through tunnels, to its next location.

The water would be fed under the Great Dividing Range into the Warrego River in southern Queensland.

It would also be used to irrigate agricultural land south and west of Hughenden, to build a new food bowl.

The LNP hasn't released any predicted costings for the scheme, but the party has committed $20 million to fund a CSIRO feasibility study.

How does the new plan differ from the original?
The theory behind the original Bradfield Scheme was that increasing irrigation and sustaining bodies of water in central Australia would ameliorate the climate, leading to increased rainfall, an expansion of fertile farmlands, greater agricultural production and food exports, and the creation of additional jobs.

That theory has largely been debunked over the following 80 plus years, but the new proposal does draw on some elements of the first plan — namely providing drought relief and driving agricultural production.

Instead of floodwaters being funnelled to Lake Eyre, the LNP's revised scheme would see the water travel into the Warrego River in south-west Queensland, which is a catchment within the Marry-Darling Basin.


PHOTO:  Lake Eyre with water looking pink, as seen from a light plane. Bradfield theorised that re-directing floodwater to places like Lake Eyre — seen here with water in 2015 — would improve inland Australia's climate. (Supplied: Matt Wedge)

The LNP said the water would be reserved for use by southern Queensland farmers.

The LNP's plan to raise the height of the Hells Gate Dam also eliminate the original challenges of sending water over the top of the Great Dividing Range.

In theory, the water would be fed by gravity, through tunnels, under the range down into the Warrego.

The LNP also said the New Bradfield Scheme would "use water from the largest dam ever built in Queensland to create a new food bowl on the western side of the Great Dividing Range".

The party argued the water would be used to irrigate around 80,000 square kilometres of black soil plains to the south and west of Hughenden — an area substantially larger than Tasmania.

Could the Bradfield scheme work?
Bradfield continued to push his proposal until his death in 1943 but the viability of the original scheme as an irrigation plan has been dismissed many times by experts over the past 80 years.

The scheme has been rebutted on scientific, engineering and economic grounds.

A major point of criticism regarding the Bradfield Scheme has been the estimated cost of implementing it.

Bradfield had put the cost of his revised scheme in 1941 at "up to GBP $40 million", which translates to approximately $3.2 billion in 2018 prices.

A bit more here

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-01/bradfield-scheme-is-moving-water-from-north-to-south-feasible/11662942

For the new Bradfield scheme to succeed as proposed you need hard rock miners to tunnel under the mountains. They will not do that for a pittance when their skills attract a premium elsewhere.

Leave Australia a harsh baron snake infested hell to deter invaders and population growth.

Anyone know what the new scheme would cost?

The new Bradfield story continues...

Katter's Australian Party has been another of the staunch proponents of the Bradfield Scheme and federal leader Bob Katter said this week he was sceptical of state government abilities to follow through with announcements.

"My records indicate that there have been some 21 dams and weirs announced in Queensland by the LNP and to a lesser extent the ALP," Mr Katter said.

"And to my knowledge, not a single dozer has started up its motor on any of these projects.

"The LNP was in government in Queensland two and a half years ago and they announced a lot of dam schemes in their three years. But there is not even a single engineering plan drafted."


Sir Leo Heilscher talked about the revised scheme at Hughenden last month. Picture - Sally Cripps.

Speaking last month at the Hughenden Irrigation Project foundation stone laying, Sir Leo Hielscher said the scheme had been upgraded with improved technology.

"Sir Frank and I have developed a concept...that works, financially, economically, environmentally and socially," he said.

"We have submitted our findings to the federal government. We have had tremendous public support, we now need positive support from the biggest head in our nation."

https://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/6475085/revised-bradfield-propo...