Community & Business
3 June, 2026
Cressbrook dam needs these upgrades!
A part of the disappointment of the Federal Budget was a lack of funding for the much needed Cressbrook Dam safety upgrades.
With $54 million on offer from the State Government, the Federal Government has left the Toowoomba Region in the lurch, and for a seemingly contradictory reason.
The improvements to Cressbrook Dam were mandated by the Queensland Government’s Dam Safety Regulator under state dam safety requirements first introduced in 2005.
These safety requirements are based on the Guidelines on Acceptable Flood Capacity for Dams (ANCOLD 2000).
The upgrades to the dam are to allow for the dam’s water capacity to be able to withstand extreme weather events.
The dam essentially needs to be able to pass much larger quantities of water out than it currently is able to do.
The risk is the potential for extensive flooding downstream, should the dam be unable to deal with an unprecedented downpour.
With $54 million in funding from the State Government, Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) had applied to receive a significant contribution from the National Water Futures Fund.
“The National Water Grid Fund (NWGF) is our primary water infrastructure investment program to improve access to safe and reliable water,” the Fund’s web page states.
In a letter to the Regional Council from the Federal Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, Murray Watts, he declined funding for the dam safety upgrades from the NWGF because the fund was for ‘betterment projects’ rather than ‘routine maintenance or refurbishment.’
TRC Deputy Mayor Rebecca Vonhoff and spokesperson for the council’s water portfolio finds it hard to imagine how the proposed safety upgrades could be seen as ‘routine,’ or anything other than ‘betterment.’
“When you are out on the dam, and you see the small plug its clear to see that the spillway needs to be widened,”
“We really need to sit in front of the minister and explain that this is not maintenance but betterment,” Cr Vonhoff said.
“It’s a safety upgrade, we need to widen the spillway and raise the dam wall.”
Moreover, the work has already begun.
The deadline for the mandated upgrades was October of last year.
“This is happening, shovels are in the dirt,” the Deputy Mayor said.
The work on the splash pool begins in weeks, work on the barges has begun.
According to Cr Vonhoff, pleading the Region’s case to Minister Watts is TRC’s priority at the moment.
The Council is exhausting every channel including relationships with sitting Members of Parliament in order to get the message across to Minister Watt that the Toowoomba Region needs these dam upgrades.
“We’ve had good meetings with representatives, everyone we have met with understands what we’re trying to tell them, it’s just very important that the Minister understands,” Cr Vonhoff said.
She stressed that Council can’t do this on its own, and yet the work needs to be done.
“We genuinely believe that this needs to be a shared responsibility.”
“I don’t believe it’s fair that they wash their hands of it.” Cr Vonhoff said.
