News
4 April, 2026
Bill would rule out ‘terrible’ plan to raise dam wall forever
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan has called on Parliament to support legislation that will prevent future governments from raising the height of the Warragamba Dam wall and that will support “our environment, our culture and our future”.
Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan has called on Parliament to support legislation that will prevent future governments from raising the height of the Warragamba Dam wall and that will support “our environment, our culture and our future”.
The Water NSW Amendment (Warragamba Dam) Bill 2026 returned to the NSW Legislative Assembly for a second reading this week.
The Bill repeals provisions relating to Warragamba Dam in the Water NSW Act that previously allowed for the temporary inundation of national park land that could have resulted from raising the dam wall.
It also authorises WaterNSW to operate Warragamba Dam in a way that would mitigate downstream flooding.
Mrs Hannan said the proposal to raise the dam wall by 14 metres at a cost of approximately $2 billion – championed by the previous government – was “deeply flawed”.
“It promised flood mitigation but ignored the facts - 45 per cent of floodwaters in the Hawkesbury‑Nepean Valley come from tributaries and rivers downstream, not over the dam.”
More critically, she told Parliament, raising the wall would inundate 4,700 hectares of World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park and destroy flora, fauna and over 1,200 Aboriginal sites and artifacts.
Mrs Hannan said the Water NSW Amendment (Warragamba Dam) Bill 2026 would repeal part 5A of the Water NSW Act 2014, introduced in 2018, which enabled the temporary inundation of national park land for wall raising.
She said it would ensure no future government could revive the “terrible” plan to raise the dam wall.
The bill also contains a new section that authorises WaterNSW to operate Warragamba Dam in a way that mitigates downstream flood risks – addressing existing Independent Pricing and Regulatory Authority (IPART) licence restrictions.
It would allow WaterNSW to gradually lower water levels in the dam ahead of a known flood event to prevent inundation downstream when the flood event actually hits.
Mrs Hannan said a 2021 admission from former Minister for Emergency Services, David Elliot, that raising the dam wall could "release more land in the north-west for construction and development" exposed the real motive – to pave the way for floodplain sprawl.
“Anyone or any party voting against this change leads us to believe that their intent is to leave the dam wall raising as a possibility so they can greedily build more houses in the flood zone,” Mrs Hannan told Parliament.
Read More: Wollondilly, Warragamba