Dalby Coal Seam Gas Water gets funding green light ...

Press release by the Prime Minister (annotated):

21 April 2006

FUNDING INNOVATIVE WATER PROJECTS IN QUEENSLAND

I am pleased to announce that two further leading edge water projects in Queensland worth $15.4 million will receive funding of $5.93 million from the Australian Government’s Water Fund.

Along with the five Queensland water projects already announced - Gold Coast capturing water losses project, Mackay Wastewater recycling project, Bundaberg Groundwater project, NQ Water supply upgrade, and Water Futures Toowoomba [subject to conditions] - these water projects in Queensland bring to a total seven Queensland projects supported to date, representing total investments of over $225 million with contributions of over $100 million from the Australian Government's Water Smart Programme.

The Australian Government will provide $3.3 million towards a $10 million project at Dalby in Queensland. The project will be one of the first occasions in the world where coal seam methane water has been used for potable water supply.

Through this project the Dalby Town Council will initially return up to 1350 megalitres a year of extraction licences back to existing water sources, providing benefits to the environment. The project is reliant on an agreement between Arrow Energy and Dalby Town Council to supply water for the project.

The Government will also provide $2.6 million to a $5.4 million project at Hervey Bay in Queensland to install advanced water meters on residential properties to be read remotely.

This will provide the opportunity to introduce a “time of use” billing system which will encourage home owners to use water in off-peak times. This is a significant innovation in residential water management. The project will improve information for water planners, defer construction of water supply infrastructure and potentially achieve water savings of up to 1000 megalitres a year.

I congratulate Wide Bay Water, the Dalby Town Council and Arrow Energy for taking the initiative to find solutions to our water management challenges.

See - Dalby gas water funding approval.

This is an interesting development.

Here's what Toowoomba City Council says about gas water:

"Given its close contact with coal and gas, CSG water would be expected to contain hydrocarbons, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, that are known to be carcinogenic. Water associated with coal and/or gas seams is also known to contain elevated concentrations of radionuclides including radium, uranium and radon. It appears that no studies have been done to determine the actual concentrations of these contaminants in the water in question."

The terms "would be expected" and "it appears that" indicate that Toowoomba City Council did no actual research into whether coal seam gas water would be an alternative water source for Toowoomba. "Ignore it, brush it under the carpet and hope it goes away" seems to be the Council's mantra for alternatives to drinking recycled sewage.

See - TCC tries to scare people over gas water.

Here's what Pure H2O said about gas water:

"... this water:
- is highly toxic, even compared with wastewater
- has a very high salt content, leaving the dilemma of where to dispose of any salt extracted from the water."

Salt disposal will be handled by Arrow Energy. This comment conveniently ignores the RO waste stream disposal dilemma faced by Toowoomba City Council as part of its controversial recycled sewage project.

The use of coal seam gas water is highly innovative and preferable to letting it evaporate.

Anyone think it was interesting that the Prime Minister made these announcements (as he does with most funding grants by the NWC) but he let MP Turnbull make the announcement regarding Toowoomba Water Futures? (This press release is on the PM's official website - the Toowoomba Water futures press release sits on MP Turnbull's private website.)

Also, Prime Minister Howard is in Queensland this week - he doesn't seem to have taken the time to stop in to Toowoomba to congratulate Toowoomba City Council on a job well done ...