If Toowoomba is dragged back into this fiasco ...

... game on!

Toowoomba gets to vote again ...

... just to be sure.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail (annotated):

Water vote in March

29 November 2006

South-east Queenslanders will get a vote on drinking recycled water on March 17 next year, Premier Peter Beattie said today.

...

The areas to get a vote will include Toowoomba, which has already voted on the issue and rejected the proposal this year.

The exact question to be put to voters is yet to be drafted, but will be ready by the first day of parliamentary sittings next year.

The area to be polled includes 19 shires from the Tweed River in the south to Cooloola Shire in the north and Toowoomba in the west.

...

Deputy Premier Anna Bligh will today introduce a bill to allow the plebiscite to be held. The government doesn't yet have the power to allow a vote to be held in one particular section of the state.

Mr Beattie said the vote would give people in the council areas that drew from the water supplies of the Wivenhoe Dam system a say on recycled water. [But Toowoomba doesn't draw its water supplies from Wivenhoe Dam or has Beattie just made a slip-up on his plans for Toowoomba?]

Full story - see - Water vote in March.

NWC - households consume 11% of the nation's water ...

... while agriculture consumes 65%.

Much is made of the need for households to cut back on water consumption and to consider drinking recycled water. Households are indeed responding to the challenge to cut consumption.

However, it is worth considering who consumes the most water in Australia and whether households are being asked, perhaps unfairly, to shoulder a disproportionate burden in this water crisis.

The approximate contributions to water consumption in Australia from different sectors in 2004-5 were:

- Agriculture 65%
- Household 11%
- Water supply (including sewerage and drainage) 11%
- Manufacturing industry 3%
- Mining 2%
- Electricity and Gas Supply Industry 1% (excl in-stream use by hydroelectricity).

Source - National Water Commission press release - ABS Water Account Australia 2004-5.

Why is it that the consumers of 11% of the nation's water (or at least those in SEQ) are being asked to drink recycled water when the 'consumers' of 65% are not the focus of any campaign to force them to adopt greater use of recycled water in their activities?

Just a thought ...

Memo to the recycled water industry ...

... people are reading.

Over 900 blog articles.

A current average of 48 visitors per day.

Over 38,000 page views over 14 months.

Seems there's an audience ...

Warning to humans: industry not willing to drink recycled water ...

Excerpt from the Australian:

Warning to cities: recycle effluent

By Selina Mitchell

28 November 2006

Cities should seriously consider drinking recycled effluent if they want a solution to increasing supply problems, water companies will warn today.

In a report to be released by Parliamentary Secretary for Water Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's peak urban water body says that unless people decide to drink recycled effluent in cities, its use to water parks and supply industry will do little to help solve growing shortages.

...

At a time of climatic uncertainty, it says, no water supply option should be ruled out, including putting treated effluent into drinking supplies.

Other options include seawater desalination in coastal cities, buying water from irrigators, and rainwater tanks in areas of high rainfall.

Each should be judged on its merits based on the local situation, the report says.

...

The WSAA report warns that if recycled wastewater is not blended back into drinking supplies, each city will need separate new and expensive distribution networks including pipes to send the water to industry and irrigators.

Sydney's current distribution network spans 22,000km.

If separate networks were built, recycled water would probably be limited to supplying willing commercial and industrial users - not enough to deal with declining inflows and rapidly growing populations.

See - Yet another report on recycled water.

Great justification - recycled water would be limited to supplying 'willing' commercial and industrial users.

Once again, it seems that the poor consumer must have recycled water thrust down their throat while industry and agriculture happily goes about its usual practices. Makes you wonder just how much industry and agricultural interests are behind the push to make us drink recycled water.

How about a bit of MP Turnbull's 'water pricing arrangements', like in Singapore, to make it more attractive for industry and commercial users to use recycled water.

Bet they'd be more willing to use it then ...

WSAA report - refilling the glass ...

Read the report - here.

Politicians told to stay out of water debate ...

...let the media distort the truth instead.

This wonderful piece of fluff from news.com.au.

An excerpt:

Politicians told to stay out of water debate

by Carla Danaher

27 November 2006

Communities should be leading the push for recycled water, a leading expert has said.

Chairman of the Victorian Water Trust Advisory Council, Professor Peter Cullen, said it was inevitable that treated waste water would be in our drinking water in the next decade. But he said communities, not governments, should be leading the charge.

"I think individual communities will decide -- no one wants governments to ram it down their throat," Prof Cullen said.

"The governments aren't going to fly in the face of community rejection of it -- it's up to individual communities to say we need this as the best way to secure our water future."

As governments scramble to address the water shortage issue, a new survey released this week pointed to a growing acceptance of recycled drinking water.

A study of Melbourne City Council workers found 46 per cent were willing to drink recycled effluent.

The results fly in the face of a Queensland community's rejection of recycled drinking water in July.

After a highly publicised campaign, Toowoomba residents voted against the proposal, by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

See - news.com.au - how not to let the facts get in the way of a good story.

The survey comprised 200 council workers - and this article reports that a majority of them did NOT want to drink recycled water.

Guess what - the Toowoomba referendum also showed that a majority did NOT want to drink recycled water. And this was a detailed 'survey' of over 52,000 people, not a quick chat with a couple of hundred council workers.

So much for the results of the Council worker poll 'flying in the face' of the Toowoomba referendum.

And there's that word 'inevitable' again ...

Beattie's water grid - 'a mirage shimmering on the political horizon' ...

Editorial piece from the Courier Mail on Beattie's water solutions and the potable water supplies sucked up by Qld's power stations ...

See - Beattie eyeballs a mirage.

Ask.com looks to 4350water for answers ...

What happens when someone uses Ask.com to see 'who is the Mayor of Toowoomba'?

At least for the moment, this is the answer - see - who is the mayor of toowoomba [Web Answer].

That must make the Council happy ...

Meanwhile WA opens the 3rd largest desalination plant ...

... in the world.

See - the Age - High-tech solution may help to quench thirst.

Premier Beattie plays the 'will he or won't he' political game ...

You have to admire the political skills of 'Teflon Pete'.

How do you keep your opponents in Toowoomba off balance and take yet more focus away from your own political troubles?

Leave Toowoomba hanging.

Don't let them know for a month or so whether you'll include them in the recycled sewage referendum for SEQ next year.

That will keep them off balance.

See - Toowoomba may be forced to repeat water vote.

'Teflon Pete' will have to do some tap dancing around the format of the referendum if he wants to include Toowoomba.

He'll also be faced with an angry Toowoomba population forced to the polls to answer substantially the same question yet again.

See if you can spot the difference:

A. Do you agree with putting 'purified recycled water' into Cooby Dam?

B. Do you agree with putting 'purified recycled water' into Wivenhoe Dam (and then pumping it to one of Toowoomba's dams)?

Same result - recycled sewage water flowing through your household taps and into the shops and restaurants of Toowoomba.

You can fool some of the people some of the time - but Toowoomba's voters have been around the block a couple of times over the past 15 months or so. We have Mayor Thorley to thank for that experience.

But it's all about politics. "Teflon Pete' knows how the recycled sewage debate divided Toowoomba and must hope to have the same effect throughout SEQ. With so much division and accompanying media coverage, the criminal trial(s) of his ex-Minister(s) and Dr Death will hardly rate a mention. Politics at its finest.

It will be interesting to play in the same weight division for a change. As entertaining as Round 1 was against Mayor Thorley, there was always the feeling of fighting down a weight class, such was the comedy of errors from Mayor Thorley and her Yes campaign team.

'Teflon Pete' is a much more worthy adversary - the wily veteran politician.

If he chooses to include Toowoomba in his referendum, it should be a good game. Same result - or actually a higher No vote is predicted - but it will be a good game ...

Beattie's plan sure to reopen old wounds ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

23 November 2006

By Rebecca Vonhoff

Beattie's plan sure to reopen old wounds

TOOWOOMBA residents may have to vote again on drinking recycled water only four months after they rejected the issue. Premier Peter Beattie yesterday told reporters Toowoomba might be included in the South-East Queensland referendum, which has been earmarked for early next year.

"All I want to do is keep my options open here and I'm not going to rule out Toowoomba," Mr Beattie said.

"If they are going to end up drinking recycled water ... then frankly they've got to have certain rights and I'm not going to leave them out.

'The premier said a contributing factor to the July poll's failure – defeated with a 62% majority – was Water Futures' high component of recycled water that would have been added to Cooby Dam.

"In Toowoomba they talked about 25%, I think it was, I could be wrong," he said. "We have not yet made a determination of the percentage. It may well be a different percentage. It may not be anywhere near as high as that ... I think a lot of people were concerned about the 25% in Toowoomba.

Toowoomba has previously been excluded from water plans for South-East Queensland, instead creating a Water Task Force, which will hand down recommendations to the Minister of the Department of Natural Resources and Water Craig Wallace and Mr Beattie on December 18.

But the possibility the recommendations include plans to use water from Wivenhoe Dam, the proposed sight of recycling, have meant Toowoomba has again been brought into the recycling water debate.

"It depends on whether in fact the water strategy that we're working out for Toowoomba necessitates them having a pipeline to Wivenhoe," Mr Beattie said.

"We've not made that decision yet, which is why I'm equivocating ... If it includes a pipeline to Wivenhoe then frankly it's pretty hard to say they shouldn t have a vote, the premier said, giving a strong indication that Toowoomba would head to the polls.

Cr Snow Manners, a vocal opponent to drinking recycled water, said the premier's comments – flagged the fact that he has influenced the actions of the Water Task Force in regard to the likelihood that water will be sourced from Wivenhoe Dam.

"That's the logical reason Toowoomba has been mentioned, Cr Manners said.

Cr Manners said he felt "like somebody walking up a hill. I thought I had got to the top, but there's another climb".

Rosemary Morley, who heads Toowoomba's Citizens Against Drinking Sewage (CADS), said she had a sense of deja vu and impending stress when she heard about the Premier's comments. But she put the resurfaced issue down to political manoeuvring on the premier's part.

"He's a political genius," Mrs Morley said.

"This is about him deflecting attention away from all his other problems. His problems with Mary Rose and Gordon Nuttall and all the rest of them aren't on the front page of the paper – sewage water is."

...

See - Premier Beattie plays games with Toowoomba.

World Mayor 2006 - Mayor Thorley fails to qualify ...

The finalists for World Mayor 2006 have been announced:

See: World Mayor 2006.

Mayor Thorley doesn't make the list.

No surprises there ...

Goulburn - the PR spin on rejection ...

Something to get the Goulburn watchers in a tizzy.

Excerpt from the Goulburn Post:

20 November 2006

No clear outcome: But it's early days, say water consultants

'The level of public support for treating effluent to drinking standard is still not clear from community surveys on a water management strategy, say council authorities and consultants.'

See - Goulburn Post - Not getting the results we want.

Clearly not getting the response they wanted.

No real surprise there ...

Premier Beattie - which part of 'NO' do you not understand ...

In a clear sign that perhaps Premier Beattie needs to further divert attention away from his errant ex-Ministers, he has hinted that Toowoomba may hold another referendum on the issue of drinking recycled sewage.

What a complete joke!

It is not quite four months since Toowoomba voted by 62% to 38% to refuse to allow recycled sewage for potable reuse.

And now Premier Beattie is considering putting Toowoomba residents through the same process yet again.

How odd. The State government doesn't regard Toowoomba as being in SEQ or part of the proposed water grid. What suddenly changed?

Perhaps he thinks he can keep CADS in Toowoomba busy fighting another referendum 'fire' while the rest of SEQ considers the same issue.

Or perhaps he needs more 'recycled sewage' headlines to take the attention off the forthcoming criminal trial of at least one ex-Beattie Minister. (If the past few days are any example, the Courier Mail is very obliging.)

Surely it can't be because Premier Beattie thinks the Yes vote would succeed this time.

Perhaps Toowoomba residents should vote on a monthly basis until such time as maybe, just maybe, they can get 50.1% to vote Yes - voting by attrition no less.

But it won't happen.

Expect a lower voter turnout for any rematch than the turnout for the referendum and the recent Council by-election. Expect more disgruntled voters angry at the waste of another say $500,000 of taxpayers' money to answer a question that has already been asked and clearly answered.

Perhaps it would be better to settle the issue over a game of rock, paper and scissors.

Ultimately, any SEQ recycled sewage referendum is a no-brainer for Premier Beattie. He doesn't care which way the vote goes.

If the majority vote Yes, he pours recycled sewage into Wivenhoe Dam and pats himself on the back for adopting a quick and dirty fix to SEQ's water source issues - the lazy approach to water infrastructure.

If the majority vote No, he says the people don't want to drink the stuff and goes on with his dams.

Either way, he doesn't care. That's politics.

It is, however, further political flip-flopping from Premier Beattie. Compare his recent comments with his view back in July 2006 - 'Southeast Queensland would have enough drinking water if companies rather than people drank effluent, says Premier Peter Beattie' - see - Premier Beattie prefers recycled water for non-potable use.

Further, forcing Toowoomba residents to vote again would be a monumental mistake.

By extending the vote to Toowoomba, Premier Beattie will reignite the passion which saw Mayor Thorley's crazy scheme defeated. Some opponents may have been content to sit on the sidelines and watch the SEQ referendum - but they won't if Premier Beattie threatens Toowoomba once again.

Premier Beattie needs to understand that NO means NO.

The Round 2 bell is sounding - the opponents are well rested after four months - bring it on ...

Toowoomba City Council water samples not tested ...

... monitoring failures occured during 2005/06.

They said it would never happen. Under Water Futures, the Council's testing regime would ensure that the water was perfectly safe to drink.

Others raised the question of human error.

They said - 'won't happen'.

Seems it did.

Somewhat buried at the bottom of page 92 of the Council's latest Committee meeting agenda is the following admission:

Recommendations:

"Laboratory Services branch investigate and implement corrective action to prevent the reoccurrence of incidents during 2005/06 where samples were collected as required under the monitoring program but not analysed for the full range of required analytes."

See - Council Committee meeting agenda - 21/22 November 2006.

Trust us.

Oops ...

Feeding drinking quality water to machines ...

Qld Liberal Leader (for the moment), Dr Flegg, has come out in support of recycled water for drinking and industrial uses.

See - Courier Mail - Libs support recycled water.

Dr Flegg's comments are at odds with his Qld Coalition party's current position but somewhat in line with the comments of Federal Liberals such as MP Turnbull (although he now says it should only be used for drinking if the community accepts it - note he is not asking this question of the people of his electorate of Wentworth in Sydney!).

But it seems Dr Flegg is only supporting it for Brisbane and not for areas outside Brisbane, instead supporting new infrastructure because they have time to build it. (So, apparently, Premier Beattie's Armageddon is here now for Brisbane.)

It is now not quite four months since the referendum in Toowoomba and there are still politicians around who seem intent on forcing people to drink recycled sewage.

Meanwhile, large companies in Brisbane happily gulp down drinking quality water.

Does it really make sense to feed drinking quality water to machines and ask people to drink recycled sewage water ...

The great SEQ recycled water farce ...

You may well wonder why Mayor Thorley was on television last night demanding the State government hold a quick referendum on adding recycled sewage to drinking water supplies. Or don't hold a referendum if the State government doesn't want to.

She seems to have forgotten that the city she supposedly represents voted on this issue on 29 July 2006 and rejected it. Remember: 62% said no.

But no, at Toowoomba ratepayers' expense no doubt, off to Brisbane she goes to join with the Ipswich and Brisbane Deputy Mayors to sip some NEWater (she must have loaded up the boot!) and try to pressure the State government to put recycled water in the dams.

See - Courier Mail - Councils unite to demand early poll.

Ipswich Deputy Mayor Tully thought that recycled water might be required as early as next year. He seems to forget you need to build a recycled sewage plant first. And of course there's the testing - unless he wants to forgo that too.

Mayor Thorley thought that you would need to educate the public. After spending close to $1 million of Toowoomba ratepayers' money on an 'education' campaign she has admitted was doomed to fail, she now wants to get on the bandwagon yet again. You lost Di, get over it.

The recycled water industry must be shaking its head at the keystone cops routine going on north of the border, so soon after the Toowoomba debacle. As if they would want Mayor Thorley within 100 miles of any other recycled water campaign. She'd want to march the kids through the streets!

Everyone seems to have overlooked the words 'long-term' in Commissioner Nosworthy's comments. Given the Beattie government's stance on trying to experiment with recycled water for drinking somewhere in Queensland, it's hardly surprising that the Queensland Water Commission is going to refer to it in their report as a possible water source.

But no, let's not wait for the final report. Let's jump in the car and get to Brisbane so we can all sip some NEWater at a press conference. (NEWater being such a stellar marketing success in the Toowoomba water debate - take the NEWater bottle and Water Futures balloon, smile, then dump the NEWater bottle in the bin and give the balloon to your child seems to have been the general response.)

Premier Beattie originally wanted to hold any recycled water referendum in 2008 to coincide with the next Council elections. Councillors would know that such timing is political suicide for any Councillor advocating a Yes vote at the time of the referendum/election.

Even Mayor Thorley would not want Toowoomba voters reminded of her recycled sewage experiment debacle at the 2008 Council elections (should she run again) by having all other voters in South East Queensland voting on a referendum on the same day.

So there's a very good reason for trying to give the State government a bit of a hurry along or convince them to scrap altogether any thoughts of a referendum on the issue.

However, if this is the start of the next campaign, it's quickly following the Mayor Thorley playbook of how to burn $1 million and screw up a recycled water campaign.

But back to the first point - when recycled sewage for drinking is dead and buried in Toowoomba and Mayor Thorley has admitted as much, why is she swanning around and sipping NEWater in Brisbane?

Surely that isn't Toowoomba City Council business ...

Mayor Thorley's salary reaches $123,278 plus plus ...

The annual salaries of the Toowoomba City Council Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors are linked to the salaries of the State MPs. When their pay goes up, so does the pay of the Councillors.

However, given the performance of most of the Toowoomba City Council Councillors over the past year or so, you would be forgiven for thinking no salary increase was warranted.

Excerpt from the Chronicle (annotated):

Mayor's salary reaches the $110,000 mark [actually $123,278 including superannuation contribution]

11 November 2006

Councillors' income based on State levels

Toowoomba's Mayor Dianne Thorley has passed the magical $110,000 mark in annual wages.

In fact she's netted $110,650.03, up from $106,270.00 last year.

Her deputy Joe Ramia received $76,549.76, up from $72,817.94 last year.

All councillors' wages are based on the annual base salary of a State Government backbencher.

The tie to State backbenchers ensures Cr Thorley takes 100% of that pay, her deputy 66.6%, a councillor without a car 55% and a councillor with a car 51%.

The only councillor who isn't driving a council car is Cr Michelle Alroe, while Crs Sue Englart and Keith Beer took on cars part way through the year.

Councillor salaries (source - Toowoomba Chronicle):

Mayor Thorley - $110,650.03
Deputy Mayor Ramia - $76,549.76
Councillor Albion - $56,431.47
Councillor Alroe - $60,857.44
Councillor Barron - $56,431.47
Councillor Beer - $57,963.53
Councillor Englart - $56,771.92
Councillor Schneider - $56,431.47
Councillor Shelton - $56,431.47

[These amounts would exclude superannuation contributions of 12% of base salary. For example, Mayor Thorley's superannuation contribution last year was $12,752.40. The superannuation contribution made on her behalf by the Council this year would have been $13,278. See - 2005 figures.]

Councillor expenses (source - Toowoomba Chronicle):

Mayor Thorley - $22,205.42 (business) and $5,024.28 (telephone)
Deputy Mayor Ramia - $2,997.71 (business) and $2,879.13 (telephone)
Councillor Albion - $6,068.11 (business) and $3893.90 (telephone)
Councillor Alroe - $210.00 (business) and $2,289.96 (telephone)
Councillor Barron - $1,555.76 (business) and $3,275.43 (telephone)
Councillor Beer - $274.50 (business) and $2,897.76 (telephone)
Councillor Englart - $5,757.69 (business) and $3,226.26 (telephone)
Councillor Schneider - $1,043.33 (business) and $3,138.06 (telephone)
Councillor Shelton - $740.15 (business) and $2,727.96 (telephone)

Mayor Thorley's expense claim included 'up to' 10 ministerial visits to Canberra costing from $800 to $2,900 each. There was also the junket to Korea which cost $6,200.

Thorley's 'spend and take' subtotal was $137,879.73 plus superannuation contribution of $13,278 = $151,157.73.

Plus, for Mayor Thorley and Deputy Mayor Ramia, add the cost of a fully maintained car each which is not included in the figures above.

Raises the question, did Toowoomba get good value from the Mayor for their $151,157.73 (plus fully maintained car) last year?

62% of residents would probably say NO ...

Brisbane - get ready to drink recycled sewage ...

Queensland Water Commission puts drinking recycled sewage on the agenda - but only if it passes a referendum.

"Unless and until there is a vote on it we are not really in a position to advocate indirect potable reuse in response to the drought or as a short-term option but it is an option for the longer term," Ms Nosworthy said.

See - Courier Mail - Crisis plan to reuse water.

Toowoomba and Regions Environmental Council - time to ban Christmas ...

Not content with advocating that people drink recycled sewage water, the Toowoomba and Regions Environmental Council wants to ban Christmas or at least Christmas light competitions.

See - Sunshine Coast Daily - TREC = Scrooge.

Really, Christmas light displays are causing global warming ...

Ballarat - snow is 'bucketing down' ...

You wouldn't think Ballarat is in the middle of a drought:

The Age - Snow is bucketing down.

Brisbane Airport leads the way with water savings ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Airport leads the way with water savings

by Tuck Thompson

31 October 2006

Brisbane Airport, once the city's third-largest water guzzler, has slashed its potable water consumption by half in the past year by collecting rainwater, landscaping and using recycled water.

It will spend $4 million over the next 18 months, on water-saving infrastructure to save even more.

Queensland Water Commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy, who toured the airport in advance of level 4 water restrictions, said it was time for business to keep pace with homeowners who had reduced water consumption by 30 per cent.

Under level 4 restrictions which start tomorrow, industries using more than a million litres of water a year must submit plans on how they will cut use by 25 per cent or achieve industry best practice.

...

The airport has replaced grass with native tree and plants, irrigated with recycled water and installed rainwater tanks with a million litres of capacity.

It is digging a second 700,000-litre pond, and has enough water to service a new golf course without using drinking water.

...

State Government is among the heavy water consumers playing catch-up with water-saving devices. Ms Nosworthy, who admitted recently that her office in the Executive Building annexe didn't have dual-flush toilets, said that would soon be rectified.

ABC's Catalyst rehashes the Yuk factor ...

Last night, the ABC's Catalyst program dredged up old footage from the referendum to discuss the so-called Yuck (or Yuk) factor.

See - Catalyst - from the toilet to the tap.

Dr Greg Leslie made a reappearance to conduct a test on a couple of common contaminants.

Someone drank some recycled water.

And Mayor Thorley proved her oratory skills once again: "You can’t hide it any more. It’s out there and proud, sort of thing, you know."

Ho hum ...

32,330 v. Toowoomba City Council - 1:nil

Storms in Toowoomba and also in the Council chambers yesterday.

Toowoomba was drenched with a couple of inches of rain. Water over near Mackenzie Street was a metre deep. It would have created a torrent through Toowoomba's creek system. Pity, the Council hasn't figured out better ways to catch and use this stormwater!

See - news.com.au - storm photos.

Also see - Chronicle - storm report.

Storms also within Council chambers as new Councillor Snow Manners showed that he actually reads Council documents.

It seems that no longer will Council Committee meetings be lackadaisical affairs where Council employees make points without challenge from Councillors and where (certain) Councillors have prepared scripts so they at least have something they can contribute.

There's new blood in the Council and it seems questions will be asked, positions will be challenged and respect for the position of Councillor will be maintained.

Things just got a lot tougher in the Council bunker.

The game has changed. The only question is whether Mayor Thorley and her clutch of followers have realised it ...

AWA conference - Flanagan gets 30 minutes ...

Council's Head of Engineering Services, Kevin Flanagan, is off to a resort this weekend to chat about the Toowoomba debate.

He's appearing at AWA's Water in the Balance conference at Peppers Salt Resort and Spa at Kingscliff on 10-12 November 2006.

See - Toowoomba recycled water - Why we did it her way.

Mr Flanagan's shared session is:

11 November 2006 - 3.30pm - Session G - Empowering the Community

...

Toowoomba Recycled Water Debate

It will be interesting to see if his version of events coincides with Mayor Thorley's version at the AEF conference in September.

In particular, who brought the recycled sewage idea to whom ...

Irrigator water swap - sounds like 'water trading' ...

Prime Minister Howard has announced that permanent water trading will commence in 2007 to ensure that towns and cities do not run out of water.

Excerpt from ABC News:

Thirsty states agree to water trading
by Sabra Lane and reporters

7 November 2006

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has announced that permanent water trading will start next year after emergency talks with the leaders of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland this morning.

Mr Howard and the four premiers have been talking about solutions to the major shortage of water facing the nation, including predictions that the Murray Darling Basin could be dry within six months and the long-term security of Adelaide's water supply.

Mr Howard says they have also decided that a group of public servants will look at ways to ensure that towns and cities do not run out of water.

"We've quite specifically asked a group of officials to be convened by my department to report by the December 15, by which [they will] commence on the June 1 next year," he said.

"We've also agreed to accelerate the implementation of proposals under the national water initiative and specifically permanent interstate trading in the southern states on the first of January 2007.

"We've asked the CSIRO to report progressively by the end of next year on sustainable yields of surface and ground water systems within the basin.

"The Commonwealth will speedily process the projects presented to us by the states for assessment under our national water fund," Mr Howard said.

...

The Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, says the trading system will ensure the water is used in the most efficient way.

"I'm obviously very pleased that as part of the decisions that we've made today that the water market will be a feature of how water is treated in the future," he said.

"Its very important that water goes to its highest value and of course resuming water trading which will happen this Friday and also the complete water trading system which will happen by the first of January next year will enable that to happen and that's a significant outcome from today and I'm very pleased."

See - Water trading gets Federal priority.


One of the options available to Toowoomba is the Norwin irrigator water swap - the irrigators have offered to either swap near-potable water for recycled water or, as an interim step, sell the near-potable water to Toowoomba.

Their proposal is something the Toowoomba City Council has studiously ignored.

It's interesting how history is repeating itself.

Earlier this year, Toowoomba City Council 'Yes' campaigners ridiculed the coal seam gas water option, saying the water was harmful. Shortly thereafter, the Federal government announced funding for Dalby to use coal seam gas water for its town water supply. Major 'egg on the face' for the Council.

The Toowoomba City Council has continually ignored the irrigators' proposals. Now the Federal government makes water trading a priority.

Toowoomba City Council should take note - if the irrigators' proposal looks and sounds like water trading (which is now a preferred option of the Federal government), it probably is ...

The need for perspective ...

Federal and state leaders have been told Australia is experiencing the worst drought in a 1,000 years (see- ABC News - 1000 year drought).

There's a real need to keep some perspective in the current drought.

Are researchers looking at Australian records for the past 1000 years which show this?

Perhaps there are cave paintings depicting the drought of 1000 years ago.

Dr Jennifer Marohasy made a similar point at the recent AEF Conference in Brisbane using photos of the Murray River in 1914 (when it ran dry) and in August 2006 (See Marohasy presentation) when it wasn't dry.

While the Federal and State governments need to address critical water infrastructure issues in Australia, there is no need for silly alarmist statements such as Australia being in the worst drought for 1,000 years ...

Deputy Mayor Ramia - spokesman for the obvious ...

Responding to questions regarding more burst water mains in Toowoomba over the weekend, Deputy Mayor Ramia exhibited why he is Toowoomba City Council's spokesman for the obvious:

"It's no good; we lose a lot of water when it happens, Cr Ramia said.

Then, showing why he is the Chair of the Council's water portfolio, he said:

"I don't know why they're bursting, but it's not a good time for it to be happening."

See - Deputy Mayor explains what happens when water mains burst.

With such stellar representation, Toowoomba residents can sleep soundly at night, knowing that their Council is on top of water issues ...

Flanagan v. 32,330 - the latest round ...

The continuing animosity within Council by the former Yes campaign team is amazing.

This time, Council's Head of Engineering Services, Kevin Flanagan, has prepared a report to be tabled at the Council Committee meetings on 7 and 8 November 2006 regarding plans for the Emu Creek dam and Artesian bore installation (Page 116 of the meeting agenda). It disputes claims published in the Chronicle on 21 October 2006 relating to plans for the Emu Creek dam and slowness in implementing the Artesian bore.

See - Council Committee meeting agenda - 7 and 8 November 2006 (Page 116 onwards).

Interestingly, Mr Flanagan states that, in 1997, access to Wivenhoe dam was the Toowoomba City Council's preferred water supply source.

He also makes reference yet again to those mythical dam yield review reports of the DNRMW (now the DNRW) which were used as the basis for justifying why Toowoomba residents needed to drink recycled water - but have never been tabled anywhere. Given he is unable to produce these reports, Mr Flanagan should really stop using them as a basis for justifying his position.

The agenda item clearly shows how sensitive the former Yes campaigners are to comments published in the media, pushing for them to move forward with available water source options.

Perhaps Mr Flanagan's time would be better spent updating the public on the amount of water which is available to the public.

Whatever water source the Toowoomba Water Supply Task Force recommends, expect the former Yes campaigners within the Council to do everything within their power to try to characterise the preferred water supply option as an expensive and difficult alternative.

It's the only way they can justify the time and money wasted pursuing the ill-fated recycled sewage water proposal ...

Mayor Thorley dinner speech reappears ...

Those little internet scamps!

Removed from the AEF website, Mayor Thorley's dinner speech from the AEF conference has reappeared: HERE.

PM Howard calls water crisis summit ...

Excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Howard calls top level water crisis summit

5 November 2006

The Prime Minister will today announce the convening of an extraordinary crisis summit with three state premiers to thrash out Australia's dramatically worsening water shortage.

Prompted by the seriously deteriorating situation in the Murray-Darling Basin, Mr Howard rang NSW Premier Morris Iemma on Friday night, urging him to go to Canberra on Tuesday.

He also rang Mr Iemma's Victorian and South Australian counterparts, Steve Bracks and Mike Rann, summoning them and their water ministers to the emergency meeting.

See - Howard calls top level water crisis summit.

QGC tests the waters ...

Excerpt from an article in the Chronicle on 3 November 2006 regarding coal seam gas water:

QGC tests the water

Strategies in place to fix the long-term shortages

By Rebecca Vonhoff

Water is weighing heavily on Richard Cottee's mind.

The managing director of Queensland Gas Company (QGC), which explores and develops the coal seam gas resources of the Surat Basin, says a range of water-saving strategies has been introduced in the hope of overcoming long-term water shortages.

Water is an unwanted by-product when harnessing coal seam gas.

But QGC has applied to the Federal Government for a water grant that will, when coupled with capital from the company, allow for the building of a reverse osmosis plant that will supply Chinchilla with 3000 megalitres of water each year.

The water is reasonably brackish with 2000 ppm (parts per million) total dissolved solids (TDS).

"It's the kind of water that when I was young I would have put into the billy, thrown in some tea leaves and not worried about it," Mr Cottee said. "It's not incredibly high (in salt content)."

But once water passes through the reverse osmosis plant, the salt is eliminated. The 8000 ppm TDS discharge from this process can then be supplied to coal washing plants.

"This means we could supply Chinchilla with 100% of their potable water," Mr Cottee said.

"The Chinchilla weir is terribly low ... and obviously there's an enormous demand and I've always thought it's criminal to let water go to waste in evaporation ponds."

"We're custodians of the Earth."

In May, QGC also began a technologically adventurous plan to use the salty water for irrigation.

Usually salt is an irrigator's enemy, but QGC has devised a technique has the salt dropping to below root level after the soil has been ripped and calcium and sulphur added.

It is though that the soil would have to be rested every third season to allow for rejuvenation.

While Mr Cottee concedes the scheme is in its primary stages, so far the results have been promising.

"We're getting about two tonnes of barley to an acre," the managing director said, a figure that is better than the district average.

The technology is so new it has not been given a title, but Mr Cottee is quick to point out the technology has received no government support or funding.

While technology advances and grant applications progress, QGC has built dams.

"At the moment they're called evaporation ponds, but in time we hope to be able to call them surge tanks," Mr Cottee said, referring to an optimistic future that would result in a zero discharge site.

"We're trying to use the water in a manner that's beneficial to the region."

How is Joe saving water ...

Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle on 4 November 2006:

How is Joe saving water?

[Deputy Mayor] Joe Ramia is quite happy to quote water saving devices that other Toowoomba businesses have fitted but he is reluctant to tell the ratepayers what devices he has installed.

Come on Joe.

Don't be bashful and tell us what you have been doing to save water.

JC
Toowoomba

It's a valid point. The Deputy Mayor's businesses are one of the highest water users in Toowoomba. It would be interesting to know what measures he is taking to cut water use.

Residents of Toowoomba have been required to slash water use. Council proposes to attach a list of the names of high water users to the meeting agenda for their meeting next month. But there is silence on one of the city's largest water users.

Come on Joe, let us know ...

Toowoomba Water Supply Task Force in go slow mode ...

Letter to the editor, the Chronicle, 2 November 2006:

More dithering anticipated

PH's article (Toowoomba Chronicle October 26, 2006) has to be read several times to be believed.

After the lengthy water debate in which our illustrious council of the day, mainly through the mayor and the chief engineer, went to incredible lengths to try to convince the people of Toowoomba that there were no other options or alternatives to their mad cap idea of recycling sewerage (sic) water and adding it to the domestic water supply.

The Task Force is calling for water ideas and submissions.

It is hard to believe that Toowoomba's representatives of the Task Force are asking for water ideas when every idea and probably every option known to man were identified during the water debate. This can only be politically motivated.

I say to the Water Minister, the people answered a question and said No in resounding fashion. Prior to the vote every opinion, option and suggestion with regard to Toowoomba's water was aired, argues and discussed.

You have one option that is totally off the agenda and all others remain. Leave politics, bureaucracy and egos out of this Task Force.

You have one option that is totally off the agenda while all others remain. Stop dithering and get on with the job.

JD
Toowoomba

Well said.

Meet the new Minister for Natural Resources and Water ..

Meet the man now in charge of the Toowoomba Water Supply Task Force - MP Craig Wallace:

See - Team Beattie - Craig Wallace - Thuringowa.

Creating our own water crisis ...

Excerpt from an article in The Age relating to Victoria's management of its water resources:

Water crisis? We're giving the stuff away

By Cameron Houston and Liselotte Johnsson

4 November 2006

VAST quantities of the state's most precious resource — pure drinking water — will be siphoned off by a bottled water manufacturer with links to soft drink giant Coca-Cola Amatil, which will pay a paltry $2.40 per million litres for the privilege.

The charge is well below the $960 paid by Melburnians for a megalitre of tap water, or the $45 paid by farmers for the same quantity of irrigation water.

Melbourne bottling company, Sunkoshi Limited, holds a permit to extract 150 megalitres annually from an underground aquifer on private land 85 kilometres east of Melbourne.

The owners of Sunkoshi provide water from a Ballarat spring to Coca-Cola Amatil for bottling. Sunkoshi plans to build a 250-metre road on the Powelltown property that would allow six trucks to remove 150,000 litres of water each day.

The pure ground water is controlled by State Government authority Southern Rural Water and the application for an extraction permit was approved by Melbourne Water and the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Southern Rural Water licensing manager Trevor McDevitt conceded the $2.40 charge per megalitre "could seem cheap" and said there was no direct link between the price and value of the water.

"It's a cost recovery figure that doesn't necessarily reflect the value of the water, but I'm not going to enter the politics of all of this," Mr McDevitt said.

With Victoria in the grip of a devastating eight-year drought, the Bracks Government has identified the water crisis as the state's biggest challenge. Environment Minister John Thwaites has vowed to link the price of water to its intrinsic value in an effort to promote water conservation.

But Geoff Fraser, spokesman for Water Minister John Thwaites, says Southern Rural Water makes no pricing distinction between water used for agricultural purposes or commercial purposes such as bottling.

"We have introduced a tiered pricing system in urban centres. However, in rural areas water is valued differently," Mr Fraser said. He would not elaborate on how or why rural water was valued differently.

Environment Victoria's director of healthy rivers, Dr Paul Sinclair, said he was shocked the Government would virtually give away water to be bottled by a private company.

"No politician can seriously tell us we're in a water crisis, when a million litres of water costs only $2.40," he said.

See - Water crisis?

At $2.40 for a million litres, put an order in for $100 worth of water from Victoria. That should water the Toowoomba gardens for a while ...

Final Toowoomba City Council by-election results ...

Final results:

Total voters: 61,157
Votes cast: 49,377

1. Snow Manners: 13,900 votes (29.2% of valid votes; 28.15% of total votes cast; 22.73% of total possible votes)

No shows plus informals - 13,628 (22.28% of total possible votes)

No shows - 11,815 voters (based on ECQ records - 19.3% of total possible votes)

2. Hugh Rose: 6,404 votes (13.5% of valid votes)
3. Gary Love: 5,296 votes (11.1% of valid votes)
4. Lin Boyle: 3,711 votes (7.8% of valid votes)
5. Mick Smith: 3,678 votes (7.7% of valid votes)
6. Carol Rolls: 2,434 votes (5.1% of valid votes)
7. Darryl Higgs: 2,294 votes (4.8% of valid votes)

Informal votes - 1,813 votes (3.8% of valid votes; 2.96% of total possible votes)

8. Michael Kane: 1,754 votes (3.7% of valid votes)
9. Darren Smith: 1,461 votes (3.1% of valid votes)
10. Neil Brown: 1,355 votes (2.8% of valid votes)
11. Ian MacRae Yeates: 1,083 votes (2.3% of valid votes)
12. George Westgarth: 1,026 votes (2.2% of valid votes)
13. Lindsay Martin: 991 votes (2.1% of valid votes)
14. Rob Berry: 786 votes (1.7% of valid votes)
15. Peter Terrill: 715 votes (1.5% of valid votes)
16. Frank Ondrus: 676 votes (1.4% of valid votes)

Interestingly, Snow Manners was the only candidate to poll more votes (13,900) than the combined no shows and informals (13,628).

Nine candidates failed to gather more votes than the informal count (1,813).

Anyone in this group should consider whether it is appropriate or even worthwhile running again in 2008 ...

More coal seam gas development ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

= more gas water.

Pipeline trust buys gas field processing rights

2 November 2006

The Australian Pipeline Trust has bought the processing rights to a major coal seam gas field south of Dalby on southern Queensland's Darling Downs.

The company will build a $31 million plant at the Tipton West field, which is owned by Arrow Energy and Beach Petroleum.

The trust's chief financial officer, Rick Francis, says the gas will be sold to the nearby Braemar Power Station.

See - More coal seam gas development.

Qld water projects behind schedule: report ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Qld water projects behind schedule: report

31 October 2006

The Queensland Government has released the first monthly update on water projects in the state, showing nine out of 24 are experiencing delays.

The first stages of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project are expected to be completed up to two months behind schedule.

The Gold Coast desalination plant is also not expected to reach its full capacity until mid-January 2009.

The Brisbane City Council has identified four projects at risk of shortfalls.

The Minister for Infrastructure, Anna Bligh, has told Parliament steps are being taken to prevent developments falling behind.

See - Qld water projects behind schedule.

Mayor Thorley - back on the speaking circuit ...

Tonight, she's at it again.

This time at the IPAA State Conference 2006 as their keynote speaker at the conference dinner.

Her topic - Serving the Public Good:What happens when the public don’t want to be served?

See - IPAA State Conference program.

Given how much fun she had at the AEF conference in September, this one should be just as interesting.

Post 2008, she'll certainly have a career in creative fiction ...