Former Greens leader Bob Brown has questioned the motives behind the raising of Sydney's Warragamba Dam wall and urged major federal political parties to reveal their position on the plan.
The NSW government plan to raise the wall 14 metres will be subject to federal government approval after the environmental impact statement is released later this year and the final business case is considered.
Dr Brown is critical of the plan which could damage the world heritage-listed Blue Mountains and has urged the coalition, Labor and all other parties to be upfront about their position before voters head to the polls on May 18.
"The leaders of the parties should be very clear about what they think about it," he told AAP.
"They should say whether they will protect it (the Blue Mountains) or not - they need to say that upfront."
Critics say the plan puts at risk threatened flora and fauna that could be inundated by dammed water in the world heritage-listed Blue Mountains.
The veteran environmental activist claims the plan "doesn't make sense" and questioned the motives behind it.
The state government insists it will help prevent flooding of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley but Dr Brown argues the best protection would be to stop developments on floodplains.
"I'd like to know who's really behind the scenes pushing for the raising of the dam which will cause extensive damage in the world heritage area," he said.
"They're devouring very important natural and cultural sites for really inexplicable reasons."
The project came under scrutiny after AAP revealed in March the Berejiklian government was actually planning to raise each end of the wall - the dam abutments - by 17m so it could easily be modified in the future to hold back additional water.
Infrastructure NSW, which is in charge of the project, has previously said it will be designed and constructed to be resilient to the future impacts of climate change such as bigger floods.
But Dr Brown argues if the government is concerned about climate change causing bigger floods - they should address climate change first.
"They government is planning for disasters of their own making," he said.
The federal government and Labor have been contacted for comment.
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