Crows Nest Mayor can't understand the fuss ...

Interesting comments in the Chronicle on 15 February.

Crows Nest Mayor Geoff Patch states that growth in the shire will be affected if the Toowoomba Water Futures project doesn't go ahead.

He doesn't understand the fuss over the proposal.

At the December council meeting, the shire council voted to approve sending the Toowoomba City Council a letter of support.

Most likely, the Crows Nest shire council has not been given a copy of the NWC application nor have any of the councillors read more widely than the information provided to them by the Toowoomba City Council.

Mayor Patch says that he is at a loss to explain why there is widespread opposition to drinking treated effluent among Toowoomba residents. [Note Mayor Thorley doesn't believe there is widespread opposition in Toowoomba to her proposal - at least he acknowledges reality.]

Perhaps it is because there has been some limited debate on the issue in Toowoomba and a number of people have actually read the NWC application.

Interestingly, the Water Futures proposal creates a bizarre situation where people living in the same shire will be drinking water from different sources -

- those in Crows Nest will not be drinking recycled sewage (this may explain the absence of opposition - it doesn't affect them)

- those in the proposed dual or purple-pipe subdivision in Highfields will not be drinking recycled sewage (although it will be used for non-drinking purposes - gardens, toilets etc)

The National Water Commission application states that Crows Nest shire has mandated purple-pipe arrangements for all new subdivisions.

So, if the project goes ahead, anyone living in a new subdivision won't be drinking recycled sewage.

Given the choice of living in a purple-pipe subdivision (and not drinking recycled sewage) or living at Blue Mountain Heights (which takes its water supply from Toowoomba), which would you choose?

Expect property values to reflect the disparity in drinking water source arrangements ...