Comments in State Parliament (MP Hopper) - 9 May 2006 ...

Comments by MP Hopper (Member for Darling Downs) on the Toowoomba Water Futures project (emphasis added):

Mr Hopper: We have often heard the mayor of Toowoomba, Di Thorley, speak about Toowoomba being a city on top of a hill. That makes it very hard for that city to get water. We all know what is happening with the federal minister [sic], Malcolm Turnbull, announcing that there will be a vote on whether Toowoomba City Council will recycle water. I think the wording of the question that the people will vote on is extremely unfair. However, the majority of the council voted for that wording. I know that the council is going to put a lot of money into the campaign for the 'yes' vote. It is all right to recycle water, but you need water to recycle water. You cannot continually recycle water until you get more water. I believe the mayor has simply not looked at a lot of the other options as to where Toowoomba can get water.

I refer to the coal seam gas water that is used by gas drilling companies. For those members who do not realise this, I point out that when those companies drill down and hit gas in the Great Artesian Basin, the water comes to the surface with the gas. All that those companies want is the gas; the water is a by-product. There are companies out there with fine mist sprays that are evaporating thousands and thousands of megalitres of water into the air. That is a rape of the environment.

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As I said earlier, I know that the mayor [Thorley] is not very interested in this coal seam gas water. Once I heard her say that it was too hard to clean the water. Only last week Dalby received an announcement from the federal government that it will put in a $10 million desalination plant and pipeline out to Arrow Energy, which is a coal seam gas company that is going to pump water up that will be sent to Dalby and put through a reverse osmosis plant. I know that some people think that Dalby is drinking Toowoomba's waste water through the Oakey Creek system. Dalby has a number of bores. Salty water is pumped out of this coal seam. It is put through a reverse osmosis plant which puts the salt into storage tanks. There will be a problem with the salt that we take out of the water. However, I know that the mayor [of Dalby] and the [Dalby] council are addressing that issue. The point I am making is that this water can be recycled.

Thousands of megalitres of water is being taken out of the ground by the Queensland Gas Company. Origin Energy has conducted drilling in that area and has found major strikes of water. Some of that water from those strikes is potable. It will be interesting to see if they check the wells that they will take the water from. The money that Toowoomba is going to put into this recycled toilet to tap - whatever you want to call it - drinking water would pay for the construction of that pipeline to Toowoomba. I think we should put pressure on those major companies that are drilling in that area.

I have talked to the Deputy Leader of the National Party, Jeff Seeney, about Emu Creek, which is located just north of Toowoomba, I would like to see a dam built on Emu Creek. It is a wonderful catchment. We have had from this government the wonderful proposal to build a dam at Gympie. If a dam was built on Emu Creek, it would involve resuming about four farms at the most. Some of that is absolutely mongrel country, but it would catch a great flow of water. That dam could be a fourth water supply for Toowoomba.

Source - Qld Parliament Hansard - 9 May 2006.