Matthew Tack from Our Mates' Farm at Geeveston forced to pay $13k for dam assesment

Geeveston farmer Matthew Tack has to pay about  $13,000 to engage consultants to assess his dam after a surprise demand from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.

Mr Tack raises cattle and sheep and grows apples on Our Mates Farm.

In 2013 he bought the property that had a 40 megalitre dam built in 1993.

“In October, we had a visit from NRE’s dam safety and water management department and they told us that our dam is supposed to be inspected every five years,” Mr Tack said.

“The way the dam category is assessed, in terms of size and risk if it fails, has changed and it now has to be reassessed.

“It needed to be remodelled and we were told we needed to engage consultants to do this work to comply with regulations.”

Mr Tack said he later found out the last time the dam had been assessed was in 2005.

“We’re coming up on our 13th year of owning the farm and we’d never heard anything about these requirements, rules or regulations until NRE Tas showed up.

“So apparently, computer modelling needs to be done to predict what would happen to properties and lives downstream if our dam failed.

“And then, depending on what significance category it is, that determines what would have to be done  – whether we have to have a consultant come inspect the dam every five years and produce a report for the department, or would we have to come up with a full dam failure management plan and have a consultant do that as well.”

NRE Tas gave Mr Tack a list of approved consultants that he said was “four pages long,” and one of them told him it would cost an average of $25,000 for a report of that nature.

“To have a department show up on your driveway, tell you that you’ve got six weeks to engage consultants  and then find out the bill you’re looking at was an absolute shock to us.

“We’re a small farming operation.

“We don’t have that sort of cash lying around.

“It was like a bolt from the blue and incredibly stressful.”

Mr Tack said a consultant has been booked in to do the work in April and has quoted $13,000.

But he was told that if it is found his dam is in a higher significance category than what it is currently assessed at, that price would increase.”

An NRE Tas spokesperson said it aimed to protect people, property, infrastructure, and the environment from the potential impacts of dam failure.

“Dam owners are responsible for managing their dams, complying with monitoring, and reporting obligations under the Water Management Act 1999.

“NRE Tas first works with dam owners to help them understand and meet their obligations and oversees compliance with the safety framework.

“The requirements that apply to a dam depend on its individual characteristics and risk profile.”

NRE Tas said it does not direct landowners to undertake specific modelling.

“If the risk profile of a dam is identified as significant, high or extreme, the landowner is required to conduct a Consequence Category Assessment.”