What was the impact of the Snowy River Scheme on the environment and society?
Firstly, on society, it needed a huge labor force so thousands of people from overseas were brought out here as immigrants to work on the project alongside Australian; That time was post WW2 and there was need for Australia to get on the move again so the Snowy Scheme was what was needed. most immigrants stayed on when the Snowy Scheme was finished. It is used for hydro electricity and the idea was to control the discharge of water into the river systems downstream. Hydro electricity is pollution free power so there is a plus there. There is a great deal of controversy about the river systems downstream and environmental impact done by controlling the flow of water, mainly from vested interest groups. Certainly the spring flood downstream from melting snow don’t happen now to the detriment of the River Red Gum trees so there are people complaining about that, some want more water released so that they can pump more water onto farmland to irrigate. Some want more water discharged so tha
