Gold Coast shuns water crisis - time to water driveways ...
From the Courier Mail
12 April 2006
Coast to Shun Water Crisis
While Brisbane tries desperately to save water, the Gold Coast is set to squander it.
The Gold Coast will lift water restrictions for 48 hours next month after Mayor Ron Clarke declared residents should enjoy a wet weekend for an "autumn clean".
Southeast Queensland is preparing for a total hose ban within weeks as part of tough new Level 3 water restrictions, but the Gold Coast City Council has voted to let its residents hose their homes and driveways over a two-day period.
The move, which will see northern Gold Coast residents using precious Brisbane water, is at odds with an agreement by councils in southeast Queensland to take a regional approach to water use.
See - No cohesive regional approach to blame.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 6:43 AM
4 Comments:
Well Hinze Dam won't be overflowing after this weekend.
TCC Deputy Mayor, also doesn't want to work with adjoining councils on our water crisis. From what I read in todays Chronicle he is virtually telling the shires to go and find their own water!
7:54 AM, April 12, 2006
Ramia thinks that because Toowoomba owns its dams it doesn't need to talk to them. Think again Ramia, Toowoomba might "own" them but are the dams within the city limits or in the neighbouring shires?
10:32 AM, April 12, 2006
He might find himself in the same position as Singapore - water falling in a catchment area outside his control.
11:21 AM, April 12, 2006
More on Gold Coast water waste:
From the Courer Mail
Dam waste splits Coast
April 13, 2006
GOLD Coast Mayor Ron Clarke will divide the Coast next month with his controversial plan for a "wet weekend".
Residents of Beenleigh and neighbouring suburbs have been dumped from Cr Clarke's plan for a free-for-all weekend of water use.
After heated criticism from the State Government on Wednesday, Cr Clarke moved to exclude residents on the northern end of the Gold Coast from the planned reprieve.
Homes in the northern Gold Coast region draw from Brisbane water supplies, but while the Gold Coast's Hinze Dam is at full capacity, the Wivenhoe Dam is at a record low.
Despite criticism from the State Government, Cr Clarke declared he would not back down from lifting water restrictions for 48 hours next month for an "autumn clean", saying residents deserved the reward.
Premier Peter Beattie on Wednesday branded the plan "irresponsible" but refused to intervene to stop the amnesty.
Mr Beattie accused Cr Clarke of only thinking of his own popularity in pursuing the idea and warned it was a waste of a precious resource.
On Wednesday Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said his Gold Coast counterpart had effectively "ripped up" the regional water strategy, a co-operative document signed by 13 councils, by acting alone to declare the "wet weekend".
He called on the State Government to step in to declare a water supply emergency and to fast-track $2 billion worth of projects including the Western Corridor Recycled Water scheme, the desalination plant on the Gold Coast and the southern regional pipeline.
However, Mr Beattie said he could not intervene, and the State Government's powers over water were not designed to be used in such situations.
Mr Beattie said a new Water Commission to be established this year would be able to regulate all of south east Queensland's water supplies and enshrine water restrictions in law.
2:40 PM, April 13, 2006
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