It is happening now! | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers

RUSTED drains at West Ballina are a sure sign that rising sea levels are affecting Ballina now, according to Professor Bruce Thom from the Australian Coastal Society.

A fellow speaker at last week’s NSW Coastal Conference in Ballina, Professor Rodger Tomlinson from Griffith University’s Centre for Coastal Management went a step further and predicted that the rising sea will mean that one day Alstonville will be the new Ballina.

“And people will be taking day trips to East Ballina island,” he said.

The challenge for local government in particular, he said, was to start planning for the rising levels, predicted to increase by 0.9m by 2100.

“Local government is at the front line,” he said.

“They are bearing much of the cost. They are bearing much of the grief.

“Most of the things that we talk about with climate change could happen tomorrow if a Category 5 storm hit.

“We could retreat, but where to?”

He said council had to now put restrictions on development in areas that will be affected by the rising water levels.

He suggested a 20-year moratorium be placed on development in areas which would be affected by the predicted sea level rises.

For Prof Tomlinson, it was the second time in a month he has been in Ballina. He spoke at the 350 Climate Fair to a small crowd on October 24.

On both occasions, he said that much of Ballina would become inundated as rising sea levels combine with tides and storm surges.

And storm surge flooding in Ballina is not new, he said last week while showing a well-known photo taken in the 1890s of water covering the eastern end of River Street near the courthouse.

He said that after he spoke at the 350 Climate Fair, a woman approached him and told a story of being at a girls’ boarding school in Ballina in the 1950s, and water inundated the school up to the students’ knees during a flood event and storm surge.

Ballina residents would be familiar with the sight of water covering Tamar Street and other low-lying areas during flood events and high tides, as happened during the May storm this year.

The big question Prof Tomlinson posed is what to do about the problem of rising sea levels.

A conflict of scientific opinion – and the 10cm difference in projected median sea level increases of the NSW and Queensland governments (the Queensland projection is for a 0.8m rise by 2100) – doesn’t’ help.

“If we (scientists) don’t get that (right), what hope do planners have?”

He suggested sea walls could be built around Ballina – as has been done in France – to stop the water getting into the township of Ballina, or dykes could be built, as has been done in The Netherlands.

He said action needed to be taken now, otherwise problems will be created that will have to be dealt with for many years to come.

He said the ‘sleeper’ issue was infrastructure underground, like pipes and building foundations, that will be affected by the salty water as the sea level rises further.

“If we don’t protect, how are we going to deal with our assets?” he asked.

He cited a case study in which Narrabeen council bought out properties within the set-back line and turned the land into a park.

But he said the council only bought six properties, and left others.

“Is that an effective management strategy? If you buy the lot, that’s an effective management strategy,” he said.

He said one of the social problems of rising sea levels was informing farm owners in particular that their properties are within the predicted set-back lines of the rising water – that land is often handed down from generation to generation.

Prof Thom said a system of notifying landholders that their properties would be affected needed to be developed by the NSW Department of Planning. “Not to frighten, but to inform,” he said.

He echoed Prof Tomlinson, saying there was a need for action now to deal with the issue.

More than 250 delegates attended the conference.