Water Futures project forced on an unreceptive community ...

Article in the Toowoomba Chronicle on 27 January highlights the concerns of the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce regarding the recycled water project.

Some excerpts (with annotations):

"Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce president Ian Andersen said the group of regional mayors [apparently Toowoomba's mayor generally refuses to attend these meetings] was concerned that Toowoomba City Council's plan to recycle water had been forced upon the south-west without first allowing an open discussion of possible alternative."

"Mr Andersen said that it was possible that an integrated regional approach, in which a number of water sourcing alternatives were employed, could negate the need to drink recycled water." [Such an approach would be far more innovative than the Mayor's proposal.]

"The Mayor (Dianne Thorley) keeps saying there are no other options," Mr Andersen said. "But there are." [Another person implies that the Mayor is misleading the public.]

"Such alternatives which could be combined in a multi-faceted plan, included extracting water from the Chinchilla gas fields for outlying towns, or exchanging water with Norwin irrigators."

"He said the Toowoomba City Council's Water Futures project, which was yet to receive the funding nod from the Prime Minister, had been forced without compromise on to an unreceptive community." [Absolutely correct - where is the public consultation - "if you don't like it, drink bottled water" is the Mayor's response.]