ENVIRONMENTALLY sensitive areas set aside by the Victorian Government have been damaged by its works for the north-south pipeline, conservationists say.
And farmers and conservationists have found themselves united on the pipeline issue, as a report released by Friends of the Earth has called for a halt to pipeline works and questioned whether water savings from the Government's Food Bowl Modernisation will materialise.
The report, Out of sight, out of mind? An assessment of the ecological impacts of the North South pipeline, released exclusively to The Weekly Times, said four Special Protection Zones had been "badly impacted by pipe operations''.
A 30-metre by 12-kilometre corridor of the Toolangi State Forest has been logged to make way for the pipe, affecting four SPZs including one set aside for the endangered Leadbeater's Possum, which is Victoria's faunal emblem.
The report also attacked the Government's choice of the Goulburn River as the source of Melbourne's extra water and says the pipeline will have a "devastating'' effect on the environment.
FOE campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker said the river was "already under extreme stress".
"It was found, by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission's Sustainable Rivers Audit in 2008, to have the poorest health of any of the 23 rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin,'' Mr Walker said.
"Government has not considered the impacts of climate change and the 2009 bushfires on the river's water supply ... there is a chance the water savings ... will actually never materialise."
The report argued construction should be stopped pending further environmental assessments.
Water Minister Tim Holding and project manager Melbourne Water did not respond to questions from The Weekly Times.
