NSW government document changed to make impacts of raising Warragamba Dam wall ‘less definite’

An independent investigation found an environmental impact statement for the proposed raising of the Warragamba Dam wall was changed to make the project’s impacts ‘less definite’. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

A key government document outlining the impact of the $1.6bn plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall was changed to make the project’s consequences for an area of world heritage-listed environment appear “less definite”.

The robustness of a peer review of an environmental impact statement (EIS) may also have been “compromised” because the agency charged with getting approval for the dam raising, WaterNSW, did not act “in accordance with best practice”.