Springborg finds waste plan hard to swallow ...

From ABC News (annotated):

Springborg finds waste water plan hard to swallow

Friday, 17 March 2006.

The Queensland Opposition leader says he would rather see water piped to Toowoomba from coal seam gas mines in the Surat Basin than the city's residents being forced to drink recycled water.

Shadow Cabinet ministers met in the Garden City yesterday.

The Toowoomba council wants to purify waste water to supplement the city's drinking supplies as part of a $68 million plan to drought-proof the city.

Lawrence Springborg says people would not be allowed to drink treated sewerage if the Coalition wins the next election.

"I'd prefer not to be drinking it, absolutely. I'd prefer to be drinking some water that's supplied to farmers in the west of here or even water that's come out of our coal beds to the west of here as well. No, I don't think I'd be very happy about it," he said.

Toowoomba Mayor Di Thorley says it will cost more than double the council's water recycling project to have water piped from coal seam gas mines in the Surat Basin.

[This is according to the Mayor's figures which have not been independently costed - her costings for the pipeline for the gas water are clearly inflated when you read the NWC application.]

"Well, I hope they're going to have a big cheque book if they get into power because it's going to cost an awful lot of money and there's a whole heap of work," she said.

[More scare tactics - will it cost more than $136 million for the Mayor's controversial project - $70 million + $66 million for the RO waste stream disposal upon Acland Coal closure or earlier.]

"And then I wonder what's going to happen to all the salt that's going to be left out there while everybody takes water out of this and we lay it out on some of the good farming land for evaporation ponds, or is there going to be a miracle cure?"

[What about the Mayor needing 600 hectares of evaporation ponds for her recycled sewage project if Acland Coal doesn't take the RO waste stream. What happens when Acland Coal closes - where will her RO waste stream go then?]

See - Mayor Thorley clearly on the defensive.