Construction of Paradise Dam That Increased Tourist Attraction Sites in the Region - Case Study Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: DЕVЕLОРЕMЕNT- THE PARADISE DAM Course: Introduction Paradise dam, formally known as Burnett dam was constructed between2003 and 2005 and is the biggest roller compacted concrete dam in Australia. Paradise dam was constructed to supply water for the Bay-Burnett area for both irrigation and environmental use. It also produces water used to run a hydro power station that produces 2.6 Megawatts of electricity. The development of the dam followed a specific procedure with the design stage coming first followed by construction stage and then wound up by innovations to the dam. The design stage of the paradise dam started with the obtaining of the environmental permission for the construction of the dam. This paper looks at the region in which the dam was constructed and the effects the dam has had on the region. It also focuses on the activities of the inhabitants before the construction of the dam and how it has influenced these activities after construction. Outline of construction of Paradise dam The design for diversion channels for the river were then undertaken which included the design of the water spillways. The structural design of paradise dam itself was then made. These designs included the design of the intake structures and the outlet structures and the functions of all mechanical equipment were then done. The mix requirements of the roller compacted concrete followed by the specifications of the hydraulic models that would be required was then done. The model of the whole dam and the procurement were the final stages before construction begun. The construction of the paradise dam was done twelve (12) miles North West of the town of Biggenden and to the south west of the town of Bundaberg town. The dam was constructed with a total capacity of 300, 000 megalitres (300,000 ×106 liters).The dam is 37 meters high. The diversion channels built to obtain a dry riverbed before construction were 420 m3/s. the dam which is the biggest RCC dam in Australia contains 400,000 M3 RCC and 40,000 meters of normal concrete. It is also made out of 1 million tons of rock that has been crushed. Paradise dam, on completion, had a wall that is 920 meters in length and contains spillways 37 meters over the streambed. It is 3000 hectares and provides 124000 million liters of water to famers per year apart from the 20000 million liters it provides for homes and local industries (Meredith, 2011) History of land use of surrounding area Paradise dam is located in the state of Queensland. It is near the towns of Biggenden and Bundaberg. The region has had a variety of economic activities practiced over time. This region is biologically diverse with a large part covered with rainforest. The oldest economic activity practiced in the region was coal mining. The whole Queensland region is said to have an excess of 30 billion tons of black coal. The production of coal from the state reached records of 190 million in tonnage. The economy of the state in which paradise dam is built has, apart from coal mining, its strengths in tourism, agriculture and mineral extraction. The manufacturing and construction industries in the region are also major economic activities in the region. The biggenden- Bundaberg area just like most of larger Queensland has a large share in the agricultural sector. Sugarcane farming is one of the major economic activities in the area. This is highly evident because statistics show that 95 percent of Australia’s sugarcane comes from this region. The average size of the sugar cane farms in the region are 100 hectares. Large scale farmers have as much as 200 hectares of sugarcane. The faming of sugar cane is successful in warm sunny climates with well drained fertile soils and the region offered all that to the sugarcane farmer. In the region, sugarcane is the most grown commodity with it being grown on large scale. However, small scale farming of sugarcane is also carried out. The area was originally covered with tropical rainforest before the increased levels of population growth pushed people to look for more land for farming. Early sugarcane farmers, cultivated sugarcane on small scale and processed the sugar cane in sugar mills. Sugarcane was introduced in Australia in1788 and by 1823 the use of sugarcane to produce rum and molasses. By 1868, the sugar cane industry was expanding and started moving from New South Wales to other regions of the country including Queensland. The first plantation of sugar cane was introduced in the region by Captain Louis Hope who established the plantation at Brisbane from where sugarcane farming was adopted across the region. The first sugar cane farmers had small farms and had small scale milling enterprises which milled the sugarcane from surrounding farms. A central miller was opened in 1869 where the sugarcane farmers supplied their cane on contract. The presence of new land and cheap labor made available by the coolie act of 1862 which made it possible for Asians to be contracted to work in the region allowed large sugar cane plantations to be started by individuals who had capital. The establishment of large scale sugar mills caused the closure of small scale mills. However, by the early nineties, large scale plantations that utilized laborers begun failing with the introduction of technology and specialization. The decline of coal mining in the early years of the 20th century made miners to return to the sugarcane industry for employment opportunities. This injected a new life into the sugar cane industry. New estates and mills were established with the family as the pioneers of the projects. These mills would later amalgamate to form large organizations with more production capabilities (McKillop, 2007) Apart from sugar cane farming, the area has supported fruit farming for a long period of time. The presence of the tropical rainforest favors the protection of fruit farms against strong winds and other adverse forms of whether. The tropical fruits grown in the region include bananas, durians, lychee , jack fruit, mangos and rambutan. Appropriateness for the development As it has been established, the main economic activity of the region has been the growing of sugarcane. Before 2003, that is before the construction of Paradise dam farmers in the Bundaberg region did not access the required quantity of water necessary for optimal cultivation of sugarcane. Between 1995 and 2003, the allocation of water for irrigation was a quarter of the needed amount for a completely irrigated crop. There was therefore a need to develop strategies for assistance of farmers to optimize the production capacities of their farms. Even though the farmers acquired water from the supply scheme of the area and the sub artesian area, the total water provided could not be enough to deal with the expanding sugar cane scheme it provides water for. The water from the water supply scheme was apportioned to farmers with farmers getting the water at a rate of 4.5 mega liters per hectare. However, the scheme did not consider the rapid expansion that the scheme would undergo in the subsequent period. The scheme grew by 38 percent between 1970 and 1994 which was a growth from 40070 hectares of sugarcane to 55300 hectares of sugarcane. Further expansion of the scheme occurred between 1994 and 2003. By this time, the water allocated only made up 50 percent of the original sum that was allocated to the farmers at the beginning of the scheme. The relationship between sufficient water supply and the output of sugarcane has been found to be that full irrigation of a sugar plantation would increase the output by 10 tons. In Bundaberg, the yearly water requirement of the sugarcane was found to be 1360 mm of rainfall. 42.6 percent of this water is provided by rainfall while the remaining 57.4 percent of this water has to be provided for by irrigation. There was therefore a big need for a solution to this water problem. Considering the fact that sugar farming is the largest economic activity, the government wanted to limit the losses incurred by farmers when they did not get value for their labor. That is when the idea of building paradise dam to serve Bundaberg and other sugarcane schemes in the region (Baillie & Raine, 2005). The capabilities for tourism in the wide Burnett region in which paradise dam lies were always large. However the potential for tourism attraction had never been fulfilled with only the coastal areas being fully exploited. Therefore, there was need to develop a strategy that could lead to the increase of tourist attraction sites and hence increased revenue for the region. The presence of Burnett River in the region provided a unique opportunity that could tapped into. This led to the idea of the construction of paradise dam that has been the main reason for the increased revenue from the tourism industry (Queensland government, 2012) The site on which the dam was built had been a wild life catchment area for wildlife. In fact, the dam met resistance during its construction because the portion on which the dam was built was one of the two habitats in the whole world where Queensland lung fish thrive. Conclusion The paradise dam was constructed for the aim of providing irrigation water for sugarcane farmers of the wider Burnett region as well as providing water to the local industries. The dam has met all its objectives as well as increasing tourist attraction sites in the region. The appropriateness of the dam was vindicated by the strong support the dam has received from sugarcane growers, the local industries which are set to receive water from the dam for manufacturing processes and some water development groups. References Baillie,C. P and Raine, S.R 2005, Strategies for maximizing sugarcane yield with limited water in the Bundaberg district, available at: < http://eprints.usq.edu.au/566/1/Baillie_ancid.pdf > Meredith, P 2011, To dam or not to dam? Available at: McKillop, R. F 2007, Australia’s sugar industry, available at: < http://www.lrrsa.org.au/LRR_SGRa.htm > Queensland government 2012, Wide bay Burnett region, Queensland, Australia, available at: < http://www.workliveplay.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=3261 > Read More