Flanagan gets it wrong ...

As reported in today's Chronicle, Council's director of engineering services, Kevin Flanagan, claims that MP Macfarlane has "misinterpreted council's submission to the Federal Government for funding for Water Futures". Seems Mr Flanagan believes that any claims that Council would extend testing of the recycled sewage by three to five years came from MP Macfarlane's so-called "misinterpretation".

But is he right?

Here are some comments from the Chronicle on 4 October 2005:

"In a bid to ease community concern over the safety of drinking water that began its life as effluent, Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane and Mayor Dianne Thorley have jointly announced that the CSIRO will independently test the water for three to five years before bringing it on line for consumption."

"Cr Thorley yesterday sighed when asked if she was disappointed about the delayed timeline.

"Yep," she admitted, but added that if testing were needed to "get the project up", she fully supported it. "

So, rather than being a "misinterpretation" of the NWC application, it was actually an agreement between Mayor Thorley and MP Macfarlane.

Mr Flanagan should get his fact straight before talking to reporters.


Excerpt from the Chronicle - 13 May 2006:

13 May 2006

Timeframe for water testing up to 2 years

Toowoomba Council’s director of engineering services has moved to clarify the period of testing of water produced at the proposed sewage recycling plant.

Engineer Kevin Flanagan said it was always planned under Water Futures to test the water produced by the plant for a period of 12 to 24 months before allowing people to drink it but that it was possible that period could be extended.

Claims that the testing period would be extended for a period from three to five years arose after Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane’s misinterpreted council's submission to the Federal Government for funding for Water Futures.

“Our proposal, backed up by the CSIRO, is that we have 12 to 24 months’ testing which, from now, is three to five years time,” Mr Flanagan said.

Mr Macfarlane had no power to add time to the testing period.


And here is what was said before MP Macfarlane realised that much of what the Council had told him was incorrect:

Excerpt from the Chronicle - 4 October 2005:

Extra testing puts recycled water schedule back years

4 October 2005

NO-ONE will be drinking recycled wastewater until at least 2011 or 2012, three years after first proposed under Toowoomba City Councilís Water Futures project.

In a bid to ease community concern over the safety of drinking water that began its life as effluent, Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane and Mayor Dianne Thorley have jointly announced that the CSIRO will independently test the water for three to five years before bringing it on line for consumption.

This new element of the project was devised after prominent members of the community, including the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry and developer Clive Berghofer, rang Mr Macfarlane and voiced their concerns about the perception that Toowoomba people would be guinea pigs for the nation.

Mr Macfarlane said that under the revised project, the recycled water would be pumped into Cooby Dam and tested by the CSIRO for at least three years, preferably five, before it was declared safe enough to be added to the regular water supply.

In the meantime, Toowoomba people would drink supplemented bore water from the Toowoomba basalts and Clarence-Moreton Basin.

Mr Macfarlane said the CSIRO recommended the extra testing as a way to garner community support by proving the safety of the water.

But he denied it was a "backflip".

"It needs to be proven here," Mr Macfarlane told media in his office yesterday. "The CSIRO wants to see it work and they'll test it three to five years before anyone has to drink it."

...

Cr Thorley yesterday sighed when asked if she was disappointed about the delayed timeline.
"Yep," she admitted, but added that if testing were needed to "get the project up", she fully supported it.

However, she said she thought it unlikely that people who had already made up their minds against the project would be swayed by any amount of research and testing.

See - 3-5 years testing agreed by Council.