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

Comments by MP Horan (Member for Toowoomba South) on the Toowoomba Water Futures project (emphasis added):

Mr Horan: The other thing that really annoyed me when I heard all these announcements was the plight of Toowoomba. Because the Premier is facing criticism for having done nothing for eight years and being anti-dams, all of a sudden the government goes to this big proposal which will affect so many people and one of the best farming areas of Queensland. As I said, it is going to cost about $2.5 [b]illion for resumptions for the dams, the pipelines, the pump stations, the lift gear and so forth in order to ship that water down towards Lake Wivenhoe and the Brisbane system.

When it came to Toowoomba, which sits on top of the range and only needs 5,000 megalitres a year extra on top of what we have now, and looking at the supplementary systems that could provide that to Toowoomba plus some growth, the Beattie government has said no to every single option. It has said no, no, no to everything that has come up, whether it is the 30,000 megalitres sustainable yield for Norwin underground suppliers; whether it is a system of managed weirs to catch the stormwater on Gowrie Creek at the back of the bacon factory where there are steep banks and a very short pump to Cooby Dam; whether it has been using the recycled water of Toowoomba for industrial purposes, parkland and sports field irrigation; whether it has been to use a smidgin of water from the Wivenhoe system or catchment and transferring that water from Wivenhoe to Cressbrook Dam where the infrastructure is already in existence to take it to Toowoomba; whether it is taking it along the existing pipeline that goes to Gatton and then on to Withcott and increasing the diameter of those pipes at the foot of the range and lifting it up to the existing reservoir at Picnic Point – that is treated water that goes through Gatton – or whether it be by putting the Emu Creek Dam in place, which is in the catchment of the Wivenhoe, so that Toowoomba can have some water out of that dam and the balance could go down to the Wivenhoe.

Bear in mind that the Wivenhoe Dam was built for two purposes: the [first] was a flood buffer for Brisbane and the second was to provide extra storage. The Wivenhoe Dam filled to the top will hold 2.2 million megalitres. It is only filed to one million megalitres. It is only filled to 48 per cent of its capacity. The balance is a vacuum that is kept there to protect Brisbane from any future floods of the ilk of the 1974 flood. If a dam was built on Emu Creek and if the government was so concerned not to lift Wivenhoe a little bit – and that would be a cheap way of holding extra water when it does rain – Emu Creek would hold 130,000 megalitres. It could be shared between Brisbane and Toowoomba, and that 130,000 megalitres would be additional to the one million megalitres that is held in Wivenhoe because that is the maximum they let it hold. That certainly was an option for us at Toowoomba.

The other option, of course, has been the coal seam methane water, which is progressing well for Chinchilla and Dalby. Both of those towns are going to take in the order of 1,000 megalitres of water. I have had a look at those mining operations. There is massive potential through that area and further out probably for hundreds of years. They bring the gas up. It is 50 per cent gas and 50 per cent water. It has what could be described as a relatively low salt content varying, depending on the particular well from 800 to 3,000 parts per million. The water is quite suitable for cows, trees and certain crops. With reverse osmosis they are going to use 1,000 megalitres at Chinchilla and a similar amount at Dalby. That water could certainly be pumped across to Oakey, for example, which takes a large amount of water from Toowoomba – and ultimately to Toowoomba. Instead our city is torn apart and ripped asunder by referendum and the debate about recycled water and whether it should go into the drinking supply. No-one else around Australia wants to do it. On the radio yesterday morning Premier Iemma said no to a recycled system they are introducing in the north-western suburbs of Sydney. It was a quite emphatic no. Because of health issues they will not be putting that into the drinking supply. Premier Beattie has said on TV here in Queensland that Brisbane will not be drinking recycled water. Just this morning we saw the minister sidestep the question when he was asked whether he agreed with Brisbane drinking recycled water or whether he agreed with the comments of Premier Iemma. He dodged the question. Normally he speaks for the full three minutes. I think he spoke about 15 seconds on that one and sat down.

That is the situation in which we are in Toowoomba. We see the government prepared to spend $2.5 billion and more on a sudden fix because it sees political problems. It absolutely deserts Toowoomba on the top of the range and leaves us to recycle the water into the drinking system – and all this to ensure that Brisbane does not have to do the same.

Source - Qld Parliamnent Hansard - 9 May 2006.