On the list

. . . Former Goulburn-Murray Water chief executive Denis Flett has been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his service to water management in Victoria.

A water industry leader and first chief executive of Goulburn-Murray Water, Denis Flett, has been recognised with a public service award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Mr Flett was also the inaugural chair of the Victorian Environmental Water Holder.

He has been awarded the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to water management in Victoria.

Breaking new ground seems to have followed the civil engineer around during his career.

Raised on a Donald farm, his first job was with the old State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, when it managed all rural Victorian water delivery, in 1974.

One of his first major tasks was working on the last major dam to be built on the Murray system, Dartmouth.

When appointed regional manager at Kerang, Mr Flett witnessed the closing stages of extra allocations of water in the Goulburn and Murray basins; a time when the completion of the 3800 Gl Dartmouth reservoir in 1979 promised a huge lift for irrigators, but Mr Flett recalls there was a developing awareness that there would be no increase in entitlements and a concern that perhaps there had already been overallocation.

From being an engineer working on the construction of the last major dam on the Murray system in 1975, Mr Flett was chief executive of G-MW when Lake Mokoan was being decommissioned as a water storage.

“I’ve seen a turn of about 180 degrees in water policy,” Mr Flett said.

Other major changes included the introduction of interstate water trading and the changes to how water rights are managed.

Reflecting on the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, Mr Flett cannot help wondering if the plan was trying to accomplish too much in one go.

He recalls the success of the Living Murray program, which recovered about 500 Gl of water for the environment and seemed to be universally accepted.

Mr Flett sees the debate and the angst over the push to achieve the water recovery under the basin plan and thinks it could have been broken up into smaller steps, with time to review progress.

In his 11 years with G-MW (from 1994 to 2005), the organisation had to tackle two huge threats — the warnings that the Hume Dam wall and Torrumbarry Weir were failing and required multi-million dollar remedies. G-MW got the $165 million under the dam improvement program.

He recalls the enduring impact of salinity programs adopted in the 1980s, which garnered strong community support and was able to capture the ear of state government.

Mr Flett spent some time in private industry with Sinclair Knight Merz and with DG Consulting based in Tatura before his appointment to the Victorian Environmental Water Holder.

Now in retirement at Tatura, although still a Goulburn Valley Water director, Mr Flett is spending more time in his garden.