Craig Warhurst

Poll

Should a dam be built at Traveston Crossing?

This poll ended on 30 June 2009.

• Yes
• 17%
• No
• 82%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

ANNA Argyroudi, a 28-year-old Greek woman interested in ”water resources dilemmas” presented the findings of her four months research on the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal at the Save the Mary River Information Centre at Kandanga yesterday.

Save the Mary River Co-ordinating Group president Glenda Pickersgill said Anna's findings raised the campaign to an international level once again.

“Anna wanted to experience what's happening on the ground and was very interested in how the Save the Mary River Campaign has worked so far,” Ms Pickersgill said.

Anna interviewed local people in and around the Mary Valley about the river issues and what perspectives and visions they had.

As a biologist Anna was acutely aware that top down approaches in water governance coupled with technical solutions imposed by water experts do not work unless they involve the democratic participation of the stakeholders.

“I wanted to find out how people have learnt to manage their water resources," Ms Argyroudi said.

"There's a lot of uncertainty - the Traveston issue is very controversial."

Her work is for her Masters thesis, part of the Master Program of Integrated Water Resources Management in SLU University of Uppsala, Sweden.

Her Australian professor told her about the Traveston dam proposal.

Anna calls her study an exploratory qualitative research with a strong emphasis on reflection.

She says the Traveston Dam is “a flawed proposal”.