The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has supported a NSW parliamentary bill that would remove a regulatory barrier to extending the Warragamba Dam wall.

The amendment to the Water NSW Act would clear the way for permitted temporary inundation of land upstream of the dam when it is operated for flood mitigation purposes.

“Decisions that could lead to rare flooding of environmental resources are fundamentally regrettable to all, but must be balanced against the greater community need,” ICA’s submission to a parliamentary committee says.

“Where sound analysis shows that there are no reasonable alternatives, those difficult decisions must be made in a timely fashion in order for work to commence in time for lives to be protected and property protected before the next serious flood event.”

The wall-raising project would still depend on an environmental impact statement, due next year, and state and federal planning approvals. The NSW Government expects to make a final investment decision in 2020.

Proposals to extend the wall aim to reduce risk to the heavily populated Hawkesbury-Nepean region, described by ICA as the most significant and unmitigated community flood exposure in Australia.

The parliamentary Standing Committee on State Development says in a report released last week that the bill to remove the statutory bar should be considered now.

“If the bill was not to be passed this year, there is the potential for significant delays… in realising the flood mitigation benefits to the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley community,” the committee says.