Boom to drain dams ...

No mention from the State government today of the need to drink recycled water.

Is it because the Minister is on leave?

From the Courier Mail:

16 jan06

WATER supply capacity in southeast Queensland has fallen dramatically over the past two decades, raising doubts about the ability to service Australia's fastest-growing population.

On a per-capita basis, water storage has fallen by almost 40 per cent since the massive Wivenhoe Dam was completed in the mid-1980s.

As the region struggles with a long-running drought, the decline in water supply capacity is tipped to continue.

Liberal MP Michael Caltabiano, who commissioned research into water supply by the Parliamentary Library, said the State Government had failed to invest in vital infrastructure to support the growing population.

But Acting Natural Resources Minister John Mickel said Mr Caltabiano had misunderstood the figures. He said water supplies were "more secure than ever" as a result of the South East Queensland Regional Plan.

The population of the southeast corner is projected to reach 3.7 million in 2025, a 117 per cent increase on the 1985 population of 1.7 million.

But water storage capacity over the same period will grow by only 7.3 per cent, from 2.1 million megalitres to 2.26 million, according to the regional plan.

As a result, storage capacity per person will fall by more than half, from 1.24Ml a person to 0.61Ml a person.

The figures take into account the expected construction of the Cedar Grove Weir and Wyaralong Dam, and the addition of the Ewen Maddock Dam to water supply resources.

Mr Caltabiano said the situation was even more dire when the water needs of the booming business sector were taken into account.

He said the Government had shown it would not act to secure vital services until its failures were exposed by a supply crisis.

"It's a pattern of behaviour. I reinforce it by pointing out what happened with energy – no money was spent until the lights went out," he said.

"It was the same with health – no money was spent until people started dying.

"In water, it'll be doing nothing until the taps run dry."

Mr Mickel said the Government and local councils were not relying solely on dams.

"We are upgrading water storages, we are driving water recycling for industry, we are integrating urban water management for developments using water recycling and rainwater tanks, we are reducing losses in water storage from evaporation and losses in distributing water," he said.

He said Mr Caltabiano as a former city councillor should understand water strategies, but was "too busy plotting, juggling and undermining".

"When looking at dams and weirs, it is the yield – the amount of available water – not maximum storage that counts," Mr Mickel said.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said there had been significant savings in water use since restrictions, and industrial recycling would also cut demand.

But there were "supply-side issues" that needed to be addressed and he was very worried about the situation.

See - Boom to drain dams.