Farmers who have watched paddocks become inland seas during continuous flooding in central-west New South Wales want a proposed upgrade of Wyangala Dam prioritised.
The Lachlan River, which runs through much of the state's centre, has experienced varying levels of major and minor flooding over the past two years.
"It's just unrelenting and even when there's dry ground, it starts to become a challenge in accessing that," Forbes irrigator Tom Green said.
"How is that crop going to get harvested and transported?"
Much of the water comes from Wyangala Dam near Cowra, which is at capacity and releasing tens of thousands of megalitres a day.
Mr Green, who chairs irrigators group Lachlan Valley Water, said many farmers had grain stored on their properties from previous harvests because they had been unable to transport it.
He is expecting to lose 30 hectares of his canola crop, worth up to $40,000, in the latest flood peak.
Others did not bother to sow winter crops because it had been too wet and summer plantings were tenuous.
A push for critical status
The group wants NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to declare a proposed expansion of Wyangala Dam as critical state infrastructure, which would give it the same status as Sydney's Warragamba Dam upgrade.
Mr Green said the case for the Wyangala upgrade was made long before other projects that have since been commissioned.
"Dungowan Dam seems to have jumped the queue of Wyangala in planning," he said.
"Warragamba has been talked about for a long time, but all of a sudden it's a priority.
"It's felt that Wyangala is just sitting there, bogged down in bureaucracy."
Wyangala's proposed expansion would add 650 gigalitres of storage, doubling its capacity.
Business case ongoing
NSW Water Minister Kevin Anderson said work was continuing on the final business case and environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed raising of the Wyangala Dam wall.
He said an application for it to be recognised as critical state significant infrastructure would be made at the appropriate time.
Mr Green said the project's business case and EIS was due to be completed several months ago.
"Under the original schedules of when they were wanting to commence the project, we should be under construction or close to construction, but we seem to be a long way off," he said.
He said having it declared critical state infrastructure by the premier would be a huge boost for the planning process and show that the government was committed.
"During the November [2021] flood they said, 'No, no. We're still working on the business case'," Mr Green said.
"Well, we're nearly 12 months along, [there is] another flood, and we're not hearing too much from the government."
