Now that the three engineers who were operating Queensland’s Wivenhoe Dam in last year’s floods have been cleared of perjury, authorities should focus their efforts on developing a more robust system for managing the dam.
The witch-hunt that followed the floods resulted in accusations that the engineers had covered up a breach of Wivenhoe’s operating manual at the peak of the crisis in January last year by agreeing on a version of events to be told by each of them to the Queensland floods commission of inquiry.
The inquiry, encouraged by aggressive reporting in The Australian newspaper, in March this year, recommended that the engineers be investigated by Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission, which last week found that the three men had no case to answer.
The Australian Financial Review took the view that the case against the men was weaker than others claimed, including those looking for scapegoats. It was a stance now vindicated and also one that highlights that campaigns for justice, although an important part of a democracy, sometimes miss their mark.
The proceedings against the men no doubt took a personal toll. The case also diverted attention from the task of making sure the dam, which was built after the disastrous 1974 floods, fulfils its objective of protecting the city from floodwaters.
The manual that determined the strategies that engineers should use in a flood was roundly criticised as ambiguous in the aftermath of last year’s events and the inquiry ordered that it be rewritten, a task the dam manger, Seqwater, has completed.
But blame for the flooding should be cast far higher than a faulty manual and the individuals who had to implement its rules as best they could. Someone in authority should have picked up years earlier that the previous manual was outdated. It is hoped the revised version will be audited regularly so any flaws are discovered before another flood strikes the region.
It also appears Queensland authorities made little investment in advanced warning systems or on modelling different flood scenarios in the years preceding last year’s catastrophic events. This is extraordinary in today’s advanced technological world.
Wivenhoe Dam probably did reduce flooding as the water levels last year peaked at about two metres below the 1974 levels, but for the Queensland public to have real faith in it, officialdom needs to make a greater investment in it.
www.AFR.com
27.8.12
