Cheaper water - for Sydney ...
It seems it's not just Mayor Thorley who has been conservative with the truth:
FOR months the NSW State Government has been sitting on a secret $250 million water recycling proposal that could provide 5 per cent of Sydney's water needs and increase by four times the amount of recycled water in the city.
Under the confidential proposal by the gas company AGL, disused gas mains would deliver recycled water to industry.
The plan was put to Sydney Water last March, and AGL wants to begin construction in July.
The project, which could provide 30 gigalitres of non-potable water for use by industry, only came to light yesterday. The Greens had requested a review of claims for privilege by the Premier's department on key documents relating to desalination.
The AGL proposal involves re-using old gas mains, by lining them with plastic and, in some areas, laying new water pipes in the same trenches as new gas pipes.
Several potential customers have already been identified, including Shell, Visy Industries, Sithe Energies, Orica, Caltex and Amcor. Other customers could include golf courses, local councils and even residential customers in new housing.
Anthony O'Brien, a spokesman for the acting Minister for Utilities, David Campbell, said the Government would support any proposal for recycled water for industrial and outdoor use but did not support adding it to the drinking water supply. He denied the AGL project was a substitute for desalination. "The reality is we still need desalination as a new source of water in the future."
See - Cheaper water.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 8:42 AM
2 Comments:
Govt denies water plan suppression
Friday, 20 January 2006. 11:35
The New South Wales Government denies a major proposal to recycle water has been kept secret to boost support for Sydney's planned desalination plant.
The Greens say gas company AGL presented a plan to the Government last March to use left-over gas mains to deliver recycled water to businesses.
AGL has said the the change could supply 5 per cent of Sydney's water needs.
Acting Utilities Minister David Campbell says it is one of many proposals received from the private sector.
"The State Government has announced a public expresions-of-interest process and I don't understand how that's hiding the proposal in any shape, way or form," he said.
"The Government very much supports the use of recycled water for industrial purposes."
9:18 PM, January 20, 2006
Piping plan hints of super utility ambitions
By Wendy Frew Environment Reporter
January 21, 2006
ENERGY company AGL could be setting itself up as a major utilities player in NSW - offering retail customers a package of electricity, gas and water services, according to an internal NSW Government memo.
A $250 million proposal from the gas company to deliver recycled water to parts of Sydney - revealed by the Herald on Friday - appeared to be an attempt by AGL to get a head start on potential competitors as the State Government moved to deregulate the water market, according to a Department of Natural Resources memo.
It said AGL's proposal was "not incompatible" with a recent draft ruling by the state competition regulator, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, that Government should allow private companies to negotiate access to Sydney Water pipes.
However, the memo's writer warned that the Government should think twice about giving AGL an advantage over potential competitors.
"[If] they are prepared to lay the pipelines next year to coincide with their gas main and are pushing outcomes to meet this deadline, I think the Government should be somewhat cautious about putting in place a regulatory framework that was developed in a big hurry and gives AGL an early entrant advantage forever when it is not clear what other market players might be out there," said the writer of the memo, dated October 10, 2005, and released this week to Parliament.
"[It is] possible AGL have bigger visions for Sydney's water market than the Government does.
"I don't think they are just interested in making this project work. Rather, I think they might be testing the market to get the settings right for them to move into a competitive water market in Sydney in a more serious way."
The memo noted that under the proposal being considered by Sydney Water and the Government, AGL was using Sydney Water as its retail arm "but they allude to wanting to develop their own retail arm as part of IPART's gradual reform process".
The confidential proposal, which involves using disused gas mains to deliver recycled water to developed parts of Sydney, was put to Sydney Water last March and to the Premier's Department in September.
12:41 PM, January 22, 2006
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