Toowoomba water study not good enough: Opposition ...

From ABC News:

Toowoomba water study not good enough: Opposition

4 July 2006

The Queensland State Opposition says it has proof the Queensland Government has done only limited scientific research into alternatives to the Toowoomba City Council's water recycling project.

Member for Cunningham Stuart Copeland used a freedom of information request to obtain supporting documentation about the Department of Natural Resources' study into alternatives.

Mr Copeland says he had expected to receive hydrological and other scientific studies.

"What we found was a real dearth of information there, it's a very, very thin amount of documentation there," Mr Copeland said.

"It was really all about presentation and perception rather than a scientific peer review of the options available to Toowoomba."

A spokeswoman for Water Minister Henry Palaszczuk says the council has assessed the infrastructure, related costs, challenges and constraints of six water supply alternatives.

She says the Government has subsequently reviewed the council's assessments and concluded they represented the situation fairly and the water recycling project was the only viable option.

Source - ABC News - Toowoomba water study not good enough: Opposition.


The inability of the Toowoomba City Council or the State government to produce the missing hydrology reports is a scandal in the making.

Imagine if you went along to your bank and asked to borrow a large sum of money.

You justify your need for this money by referring to a written valuation of a property you were buying. But you don't produce it.

The bank tells you it will lend you the money provided you satisfy certain conditions. One would presumably be seeing a copy of the valuation.

What would the bank say if it subsequently found out that there was never any valuation?

Would the bank still want to lend you the money?

Would the bank still trust you?

Why should voters trust the Toowoomba City Council when they can't even produce the reports which are supposed to form the basis of the need to drink recycled water?