The Lake Boga Follow-Up Study - Report on Findings

Dealing with

Extremes

The Lake Boga Follow-up Study - Report on Findings

Department of Planning and Community Development

Spatial Analysis and Research Branch March 2012

This report was prepared by Spatial Analysis and Research, a unit in the Planning, Building and Heritage Group in the Department of Planning and Community Development March 2012.

This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.

Report written by Elissa Waters and Fiona McKenzie

Fieldwork assistance by Sam Pendergast

Email au

ISBN 978-1-921940-67-5

Table of Contents

1.Introduction

Overview of the original study

Returning to Lake Boga

2.The return of water

The story of water returning

Explanations for why the lake filled

3.The year of water

Emotional and psychological impact

Social and community impact

Property market impacts and migration

Impact on business and tourism

4. The floods

Introduction

Impact on the town

Impact for farmers

Individual and community impacts

Community action

Insurance

Management issues

5. Comparisons between drought and flood

Which was worse?

Community response

Comparisons in government response

6. The future

The future of the town

The future of the lake

Individual future in the area

The frequency of future extreme events

Uncertainty

Consequences – will people leave?

Cumulative impact

7. Discussion

Management and assistance

Relative impacts

Impacts of media

The role of personality

Frequency of extreme events

8. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Background

The Department of Planning and CommunityDevelopment (DPCD) has an interest inunderstanding how communities copewith, and respond to, social, economicand environmental change. This reportoutlines the findings of a set of interviewsconducted in Lake Boga in early 2011. Theinterviews were a follow-up to researchwhich had been undertaken in the samelocation and with the same respondents 18months earlier. As such, this report shouldbe considered in relation to the publishedfindings of the original study: The DryingLake. Lake Boga’s Experience of Changeand Uncertainty available at

Lake Boga is located near Swan Hill innorthwest Victoria. It is a town of 700people located around the lakeside and inthe adjacent township. The lake providessignificant social and economic benefits tothe local and regional community. It is thecentre of activity for the town and providesa space for popular events such as regattasand water skiing competitions. Importantly,the lake is a place where the communitygathers and socialises.

Overview of the original study

In early 2008, after nearly a decade ofdrought, the lake dried up completely. Inthe following months the smell of rotting fishpermeated the town and a plague of gnatsoccurred. Of more lasting impact was thefine dust of the lake bed which was raisedon windy days.

In 2009, researchers from DPCD visitedthe area to undertake a series of around 40interviews with locals to find out about thisevent and how it had affected their lives.

Respondents talked about emotionsof anger, frustration and shock in theimmediate aftermath of the lake drying.A less obvious impact was the feeling ofsocial isolation caused by the loss of a keycommunity meeting place. The loss of thelake had direct economic impacts on localbusinesses as fewer visitors meant lessmoney coming into the town. Nevertheless,the proximity of Swan Hill played animportant role in limiting the economicimpacts of the dry lake as it continued toprovide sources of employment, and henceincome, for working-age people.

A significant economic impact arising fromthe dry lake was a fall in property values,particularly around the lake frontage. Manyhome owners found themselves trapped bythis loss of asset value. The loss was alsofelt in terms of a loss of lifestyle and amenity.While lakeside residents did not physicallylose their house, they did lose a view, alifestyle and the value of their investment. Inshort, a loss of wellbeing.

Despite the difficulties presented during theperiod of the dry lake, out-migration wasrare. Some residents were trapped by lossof asset value and were waiting for water toreturn before selling their property. Othersregarded the local area as home, with orwithout the lake, and indicated they werelikely to stay irrespective of any long-termenvironmental change.

Returning to Lake Boga

In March 2010 water began returning toLake Boga. The initial phase of refillingoccurred as water allocation becameavailable via Goulburn Murray Water. Beingpart of the Northern Irrigation system, LakeBoga was selected as the storage locationfor this water.

By the end of 2010 the long droughtwas ending and in early 2011 Victoriaexperienced major flooding. During thisperiod Lake Boga filled to capacity andthreatened to overflow. While the townshipwas spared major damage, the riverssurrounding the region – the Loddon, AvocaMurray, and Little Murray Rivers were all inflood with vast areas of land under water.As a result Lake Boga was affected by roadclosures, disruption to trade and transport. Itwas also a designated evacuation centre fornearby areas.

Ironically, the surfeit of water in the regiondelayed the research team from returningto Lake Boga to undertake follow upwork. The return was envisaged as a way of investigating the residents’ experience now that water was back in the lake. The flood events, however, raised the possibility of gaining a unique perspective of the environmental extremes – drought, dry lake and flood – which the region had undergone over a two-year period. The opportunity to interview the same people about this period of change was extremely valuable, especially as the original project had sought to explore themes such as vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity in the face of environmental change.

2. The return of water

The story of water returning

In March 2010, after nearly two years of dryand dusty conditions, water was returnedto Lake Boga by way of an allocation madeby Goulburn Murray Water. Unsurprisingly,the overwhelming reaction of the communitywas one of excitement and relief.

It was … it was enormous, just thehappiness on people’s faces, it was bloodyunbelievable. (Interview 22)

It was pretty exciting… even the kids atschool, they were just racing around,yelling out to everybody who came in thegate ‘did you know water’s coming in thelake!’ (Interview 5)

The community was given three days noticebefore the water begun to flow into the lake.During the dry period vegetation and debrishad built up in and around the lakebed. Athel pines were growing in the bed whichcaused concern for many as, if they werenot cleared before water returned, theycould potentially impact opportunities forboating and skiing. Many of the intervieweesexpressed frustration that they were not givenassistance or enough time to properly cleanthe lakebed before the water came back.

The water authorities didn’t give us time toclean up so it was really a mad shambles.Everybody was burning and cutting thepines. (Interview 18)

It’s very poor coordination betweendepartments. You know, they could havegiven us heaps of notice, could have done areally good job of cleaning up the lake bed,and the community would have. (Interview 21)

As residents of Lake Boga we areable to get government funding to domaintenance work along the foreshorebut bureaucracy didn’t allow that work toget done in the time frame before waterreturned. Now that has impacted severelyon the caravan park. (Interview 20)

Parallels were drawn to the period whenthe lake was drying where it was unclearwhich authority was responsible for themanagement of the lake.

We got back to the same situation,‘it’s not on my side, it’s between DSE,council, Parks Victoria, water authority,not my problem’ so nothing was done soconsequently the whole of the foreshorearound Lake Boga was becomingabsolutely overrun by this tall grass. (Interview 18)

There was a lot of work that should havebeen done by the council, governmentdepartments being very slow to react …they just couldn’t make a decision. (Interview 19)

Similarly there was some criticism overthe lack of communication from the waterauthorities to the community about whenhow and why water was put back intothe lake. However, for some there wasrecognition of the complexities of watermanagement.

You’ve got to take the water when it’s there... there’s a lack of understanding abouthow the whole system works. (Interview 15)

In the effort to clean the lake bed, thecommunity got tractors and equipmentand over the period of two days, cleared itthemselves. There was a great deal of pridein how the community responded to theurgency of the clean up.

So everybody started getting together andit was quite an amazing period actually,everyone, neighbours and friends all gottogether and cleaned up the lake. (Interview 23)

The water allocation came in two stagesand as the rains continued to the north thelake was eventually filled completely.

You could watch it rising by the day andthen it stopped because we had ourallocation, but the rain in Queensland didn’tstop so the Darling was banking up theMurray and it was flooding… It was justcoming in, coming in, coming in. (Interview 1)

Explanations for why the lakefilled

Explanations for why water was returnedto Lake Boga reflected a generalunderstanding that the management of thelake had changed. As opposed to beingnaturally fed by the Avoca River in timesof high flow, the lake was now part of theirrigation system and was being managedby Goulburn Murray Water as part of theMid Murray Storage Project. In responseto the question ‘why did the lake fill again?’most interviewees referred to the fact thatexcess flows in the Murray Darling Riversystem meant that water managers had theopportunity to divert water into Lake Boga.

Obviously water became available andGoulburn Murray Water decided to putwater in there. (Interview 15)

As soon as there were excess flows in theriver, the excess flows, you see, are nooneswater, so no-one loses. The GoulburnMurray diverts it into the lake, they’re notlosing water. (Interview 6)

There was a recognition that there was a lotof water in the Murray Darling system and thatmeant that there was enough to fill Lake Boga.

Basically the rains were up in the storages,the water was there. (Interview 20)

It also had a lot to do with the water that filledthe Darling and the Murrumbidgee I think itwas, there was water coming in which meantthey had plenty of water to go down to SouthAustralia. (Interview 19)

Over a period of a month or so the lake wasfilled and the community was able to enjoy theviews and activities. Naturally, the return ofwater to Lake Boga had an incredibly positiveimpact on the town and its residents.

3. The year of water

Emotional and psychologicalimpact

Many people spoke about the emotionalrelief and psychological boost that camewith seeing and using the lake again.

It was sort of like a load off the shouldersreally. (Interview 3)

You can see in the town, there’s a springin people’s step. Attitudes had changed.(Interview 7)

With the advent of water the whole spiritof the region lifted. You could see thedespondency disappear, and generallythe depressed feeling of hopelessness… people are looking forward to thefuture again, looking for possibilities andprobabilities, what we should be doingnow. (Interview 9)

It brought with it a sense of relief that the drylake was not a permanent state that theywould have to adjust to.

Just relief that there hadn’t been apermanent change to the weather patternwhich meant that we were never evergoing to get water back.(Interview 15)

I had built a house around me in the dry,I felt vindicated. A sigh of relief … I cansort of sit in the bedroom and look at thewater and I look out there every morning,thinking, ‘maybe I died and went toheaven.’ (Interview 1)

For many it was a reaffirmation of whypeople had moved here in the first place anda return to the sense of identity that manybelieved the town had lost during the dryperiod.

We’ve got the identity back. (Interview 14)

It helped the little town attitude itself, thatcame back again. (Interview 13)

I just thought it felt like home again. (Interview 7)

Social and Community Impact

The return of the water brought with itopportunities for the family and socialactivities that were sorely missed during thedry period. The yacht club started up againwith new members, boats were brought outof garages and onto the water and peoplewere able to get together around the lakeagain for picnics and barbeques. A newfishing club was formed which now hasaround 200 members.

The kids are going over to go to the lakeand messing around in the lake … soits back to those activities from a familyperspective. (Interview 2)

There’s fish back in the lake, of course,and the kids go fishing. It’s wonderful tosee the kids back fishing. (Interview 14)

Because the lake was back this yeareveryone made a point to have Christmasin the home. (Interview 23)

Property market impacts andmigration

Following the return of water to the lake,many properties in Lake Boga were put onthe market. There was anecdotal evidencethat these properties were selling.

As soon as the water came in … I think justin a week about two houses and a vacantlot, the pieces of property sold. (Interview 18)

There been a tremendous upsurge inhouses for sale, and they’re modestlyselling. (Interview 8)

There’s both houses and vacant land forsale. So, I think people who sat it out aretrying to cash in on the return of the water.(Interview 1)

It was uncertain how important the returnof the water was to peoples’ decision tosell their property. Certainly the return ofthe water made it a more attractive markethowever it was not clear that the period ofharsh conditions during the dry lake hadencouraged people to sell when waterreturned.

It was not just the water. Yes, maybe oneor two might have been. A number ofothers I know went on the market andthey were personal reasons why they weregoing on the market. (Interview 20)

Some places that’ve been on the lake,they’ve sort of been for sale since beforethe water. A couple have sold but I don’tknow that it’s actually made a dramaticeffect on that. (Interview 5)

There was probably some water influencethere, but I think it’s a general trend here atthe moment that there is a lot of houses onthe market that people are not prepared totake a loss on, so they’re sort of sitting onthe market there. (Interview 21)

One interviewee made a distinction betweenresidents’ properties and holiday housesin terms of reasons for selling. The feelingwas that for second home-owners theuncertainty about whether the lake wouldremain full was a key factor in them selling.

They’ve just gotten sick of it. Water oneyear, no water ... They just thought thatnow that water’s here, we might be ableto get some decent value for our property,take the money and run. (Interview 12)

Similarly some pointed to a difference forpeople who hadn’t lived in the area forlong. There was speculation that perhapsthe conditions during the drought couldhave become too much for them and thosepeople’s properties have been amongstthose put on the market.

People are probably getting sick andsaying I’ve had enough of this, if theyhaven’t come from the area, it’s somethingthey are not used to and oh bugger this,I’m going back to wherever else. (Interview 24)

For the most part the intervieweesthemselves did not feel that they would selland move now that water is back in thelake. Many of the responses reflected theopinion that they had during the dry lakeperiod – that they would stay in the regionno matter what happened with the water.

I’m one of the old diehards, I live on thelake actually and we had no intentions ofleaving anyway whether there was water orno water. (Interview 9)

The decision to go out there is a lifestyleone not a financial one, and we chooseto live there for lifestyle reasons and thathas only been enhanced by the return ofwater to the lake. Not even the remotestpossibility of selling. (Interview 15)

The few interviewees who had doubts aboutstaying during the dry period indicated thatthey were more confident about stayingnow that water was back in the lake and theregion.

We’re staying. We considered getting outbecause we had no options but now we’vegot options and we’re staying. (Interview 7)

One respondent had sold a property,however they indicated that there weregeneral issues of market confidence due toa lack of certainty about security of water inthe area.

Yeah we did, we sold a place over theroad. We’d had it on the market for sometime … I think the end of the droughtand people hung back and waited to seewhether the water would come back andwhen the water came back I think they’rehanging back and waiting to see how longit does stay. (Interview 19)