Qld water project running late: Seeney ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Qld water project running late: Seeney

31 July 2007

The western corridor pipeline will deliver only two-thirds of the recycled water forecast and is now running late, the Queensland opposition says.

The latest Queensland Water Commission emergency project update showed the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project would deliver 142 megalitres a day - down from the original estimate of 232ml/day.

The report also said production flows "may reduce further".

Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney said the first stage of the pipeline was originally due to deliver recycled water to the Swanbank power station now, but the timeline had now stretched to August 31.

"The Beattie Labor government's decade long neglect of water means we're now in a race against time to build years worth of water infrastructure in just months," Mr Seeney said.

"It doesn't bode well that the Beattie Labor government couldn't hit its first major water infrastructure target."
...

See - SEQ water grid failure.

Citigroup - privatise water ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Privatise water, bank urges

30 July 2007

Privatising water would cause more efficient use of the increasingly precious commodity and stimulate important infrastructure investment, Citigroup says.

The local arm of the world's biggest bank is calling on Australia's state governments to leave the pricing of water to competitive market forces.

Citigroup acknowledged its model would make water more expensive but said it would also lead to more efficient use by bringing water's scarcity into the pricing equation for the first time and encourage more development and technological innovation by making investing in water infrastructure worth the initial cost.

Currently, most state governments base water pricing on a fixed, non-consumption based cost component, and on a block tariff, which rises and falls based on the level of water consumed.

"Given the scarcity issue of water and how climate change is impacting Australia, it's not the most optimal way of pricing water," said Citigroup economist Shane Lee.

"You really need a price signal to be able to tell consumers to cut back on use when water is scarce."

Drought-ravaged Australians paid 20 per cent below the OECD average water price, Citigroup said.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, household expenditure on water and sewage is only 0.7 per cent of disposable income compared to 2.7 per cent for electricity and gas, 3.6 per cent for alcohol and cigarettes and 5 per cent for household furniture.

A pricing model similar to Citigroup's would increase water prices by 300 per cent by 2032, assuming Australia's population grows by an expected five million people, according to the CSIRO.

A separate survey by the government agency also found that most higher income households were prepared to pay 10 per cent more for their water in exchange for a single day pause in garden watering restrictions.

"So there is scope for people wanting to trade off a higher water price for more water availability," Mr Lee said.

Citigroup's model also implies greater networking between agricultural and urban water supplies, and the construction of more water recycling plants, desalination plants, and water grids linking privately owned water assets.

The CSIRO report found that If these measures were not taken, water prices could rise by as much as 1000 per cent by 2032.

The average return on capital from water infrastructure developments is currently 4.6 per cent - well below the 6.4 per cent reaped by Australia's top listed infrastructure companies.

Water has already been privatised in other parts of the world including the United Kingdom, where Mr Lee said water servicing and quality had improved.

Unlike Citigroup's model, the UK system is only based on the price of bringing water to the consumer. It does not factor in water availability.

Mr Lee said most Australian state governments had shown an interest in Citigroup's model.

"We haven't heard anything from WA, but all the other state governments are interested in this at the moment, particularly Queensland where they've really put infrastructure in place ... and their just grappling with how to set up a pricing system."

Last year the Queensland state government announced it would spend $7 billion on water infrastructure, largely on a new water grid in the south eastern part of the state.

The federal government has also promised to spend $11 billion to improve water use and efficiency in the Murray-Darling Basin over the next 10 years.

See - Privatise for profits.

Engineer's wife in letter melt down ...

See - Pizzas and movie tickets were silly.

Why Jondaryan Shire doesn't want to merge with Toowoomba ...

Read the reasons - Why Jondaryan says No.

Beattie government - hold a referendum and get the sack ...

... hardly a meaningful threat to those Councillors whose jobs will disappear under the Beattie reforms.

See - Sunday Mail - Sack threat to merger rebels.

Toowoomba - 12 months on - the top ten Yes supporters revisited ...

The top 10 people/groups who supported the Yes campaign ...

... yet contributed to its failure:

1. Mayor Di Thorley

Far and away the clear winner. She was at times both the Yes campaign's greatest asset and its greatest weakness.

Her 'you'll drink it or you can buy bottled water' approach to community engagement offended many Toowoomba residents right at the outset of the debate.

She sought to bludgeon her way to a Yes vote win, creating a culture of fear both within the Council and in the broader community. (The Sydney Morning Herald named it her 'take no prisoners' approach to recycled water.)

Unwilling to attend any forum in Toowoomba to discuss community concerns regarding her recycled sewage project. Preferred to spend time at water recycling conferences around Australia preaching to the converted.

Has since had a makeover, made an appearance on ABC's Media Watch and presided over Carnival activities.

Update - will not seek re-election at the 2008 Council election.

2. MP Malcolm Turnbull

Tried his best to coerce Toowoomba into voting in favour of the great recycled sewage experiment.

His 'drink it or you'll get no federal funding' approach to recycled water was appalling.

He sought to rely on Mayor Thorley's scare tactic of Toowoomba running out of water with the added bonus of no federal funding for other alternatives.

Paid a flying visit to Toowoomba which cost countless Yes votes then joked at a Brisbane function that he was making the guests drink Toowoomba recycled water. A number of No campaigners wished he would have returned for another visit prior to 29 July - his visit seemed to be worth at least a couple of percentage points to the No campaign.

Still heading up Water issues for the Federal government (update - now as Minister) - has no current plans to introduce a similar recycled water for drinking scheme into his electorate of Wentworth in Sydney - what ever happened to leading by example?

3. Deputy Mayor Joe Ramia

He promised to 'drop a rock' on people who opposed the Mayor's recycled sewage plans.

His aggressive and threatening style left many Toowoomba residents scratching their heads in bewilderment.

He also showed he had never read the Council's NWC funding application (although he wasn't the only one!), giving Toowoomba residents little confidence in his abilities as head of the Council's Water portfolio. Always odd that the head of the Water portfolio is one of Toowoomba's most prolific water users.

Failed to follow through on his promise to resign his Water portfolio if the No vote succeeded.

Still the Deputy Mayor - plans for the 2008 Council elections as yet unknown.

4. Premier Peter Beattie

His State government was an early and late supporter of Mayor Thorley's campaign (and largely silent in between).

He gave us quotes such as "It has never been the state government's policy to pump recycled water into dams" and "I repeat: using recycled water for drinking is not my government's policy" and declared that Toowoomba was an experiment and personally he wouldn't drink it.

Still the Premier.

Update: now attempting to force SEQ residents to drink recycled water. Taken to importing dodgy 4 minute shower timers and even dodgier pipes from China.

5. Jeff Nolan

He promised a 20,000 signature petition in favour of drinking recycled sewage which would be tabled in Federal parliament.

He formed the Pure H2O group and set about gathering signatures. He failed to understand any of the previous studies and polls on drinking recycled sewage and his petition quietly died with Pure H2O imploding shortly after. The petition sheets can still be seen gathering dust in the odd doctor's surgery waiting room around Toowoomba.

He also qualifies for writing so many letters to the Chronicle that people really believed that a No vote meant 'no more Jeff Nolan'.

Still teaching. Not known to be requesting that Council make regular deliveries of NEWater to his house for his consumption.

6. Kirstie Smolenski

Another member of the Pure H2O group who decided that drinking recycled water was so good for you that she would have a national newspaper photograph her feeding it to her children.

Famously circulated the 'dihydrogen monoxide' email to Yes campaign supporters.

Also known for writing copious letters to the Chronicle. At one point, she claimed that the recycled sewage project would cause Toowoomba property prices to skyrocket, basing her belief on price increases in Orange county real estate. (Interestingly, San Diego real estate prices skyrocketed during they same period after they shelved their recycled sewage project. Perhaps there was another reason for the price increases in California?!)

Still writing letters to the Chronicle and just gave birth to another child - must be something in the water!

7. Dr Greg Leslie

An early arrival to (and departure from) the Toowoomba debate. He proclaimed that he would let his 5 year old drink the recycled water.

Was Toowoomba City Council's initial golden boy - touted by Council in the Toowoomba media, Council minutes and correspondence as their independent expert. Subsequently shown to be still consulting to his old employer, CH2M Hill, the company most likely to build the recycled sewage facility.

Not known to use the word 'Toowoomba' any more.

8. Drew Hutton and the Greens

Sought to hijack the referendum and turn it into an anti-dam festival.

Recruited people to come to Toowoomba to hand out how-to-vote cards on polling day. Seemed to think that drinking recycled water was the only alternative to building Premier Beattie's dams.

Awaiting next State election.

9. Council's Yes campaign team

A team which had $460,000 of ratepayers' funds at its disposal during the referendum period and could do little better than handing out balloons, movie passes, lollies, pizza and soft drink as it tried to convince Toowoomba residents to drink recycled sewage.

Had a habit of visiting schools to scare the children and thought marching the city's children through town was a great way to win votes. Circulated a weekly guide to their forthcoming activities which was always fun to read.

Generally disbursed back to other council activities.

10. Linda Macpherson/CH2M Hill

Paid over $200,000 in consultancy fees and could do little better than reproduce incorrect brochures from the Singapore NEWater facility which showed nothing got through the membranes.

And who could forget the Disneyland photo! Stuff ups like this were free kicks for the opposition.

The CH2M Hill juggernaut continues on its merry way.

And one more for good measure:

11. Jenifer Simpson and the Australian Water Association (AWA)

With her background as an anti-dam lobbyist, Jenifer Simpson provided us with the '6 star rating guide to recycled water' and invented psychiatric disorders such as 'hydro-coprophobia':

"Well, 'coprophobia' is...is actually a real word and it means 'a fear of faeces' so I've put a 'hydro' on the front of it which means 'a fear of wastewater'." (ABC Four Corners).

Known for the odd scare tactic: "Swimming pools, I think, will be a thing of the past. I don't know what the Olympic swimmers are going to do. They'll have to practise in the sea, won't they?" (ABC Four Corners)

And seems somewhat fixated on the terms used to describe recycled sewage - Plunder down under.

Together with the AWA, she organised an 'independent' forum in Toowoomba to tell Toowoomba residents that recycled water was the best option (but no-one seemed willing to discuss the other options). The forum included vote winning statements such as "If Toowoomba doesn't do it [vote in favour of drinking recycled sewage] the Mary River will be dammed".

Believed looking for next target.

Why Toowoomba City Council is now in caretaker mode ...

With the proposed amalgamation of Toowoomba with multiple shires, the current Toowoomba City Council should put itself into caretaker mode.

Any significant new projects should await completion of the amalgamation and the election of a new Mayor and new set of Councillors. There should be no attempts to try to revive the failed Water Futures recycled water project during this period.

It's time the current Councillors went into caretaker mode until the 2008 Toowoomba City Council election ...

Toowoomba's super shire future ...

Recommendation to the Beattie government:

- create a super shire by amalgamating Toowoomba with Crows Nest, Rosalie, Jondaryan, Millmerran, Pittsworth, Clifton and Cambooya shires.

- Council to consist of 10 Councillors and a Mayor.

- reduction from 69 elected officials to 10 Councillors and a Mayor.

See - Council amalgamation recommendations.

Also see - What's happening to my Council?

Also see - Council representation.

Also see - Courier Mail - Axe falls on State councils.

Lots of folks in those shires didn't want to drink recycled water and were angry that they didn't get to participate in last year's referendum.

Imagine how they will vote if any of the "Yes" Councillors are foolhardy enough to stand again ...

Victoria loses Premier and Deputy Premier in one day ...

See - Bracks and Thwaites quit.

If only that was Queensland ...

Al Gore - the inconvenient truth of first class plane travel ...

Remember former VP Al Gore's mode of transport between Washington DC and New York as he hopped between Live Earth concert events?

He took the train to highlight global emissions - train travel was seen as far more environmentally friendly than taking a plane.

Many wondered how he got home that day.

Seems away from the public gaze planes are his preferred mode of transport, first class no less. But no SUVs - a photo of Al in a SUV wouldn't help the 'eco-friendly' image.

All is revealed in Al Gore's contract for one of his Inconvenient Truth speaking events.

Banish all thoughts that he's crossing the globe talking about global warning out of the goodness of his heart.

He's hit on the mother lode of former Presidential contender speaking event topics.

It's a great earner - US$100,000 a pop as his contract for a recent event at the University of California shows - US$100k for a 75-minute environmental slide presentation with 10 minutes of questions.

He also demanded no press, video or audio taping of his appearance, and full approval over all banners, logos, and communications materials for the event.

And the terms of the contract are supposed to remain confidential. Wouldn't want that public!

See - LA Times - Gore loves the environment at $100,000 a pop.

Also see - Al Gore's 'no SUV' contract.

Perhaps he hung around so many pop stars at Live Earth, he thinks he is one. But at least he hasn't asked for all the brown M&Ms to be removed from his dressing room ...

TCC - it's time they resigned ...

Excerpt from a recent Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle (annotated):

It is time the six "yes" councillors admitted that the "no" result was entirely reasonable.

As explained below, had there been a "yes" result, the advanced treatment plant would have been a white elephant, in another word useless for at least 20 months, form May 2009 to January 2011.

There were two important criteria for everyone to consider before voting.

1. The requirement that the water be held in Cooby for three years for testing.

2. The new and existing bores would supply only 75% of the city's demand.

Had there been a "yes" result the TCC would have started work on the ATP in August 2006.

[Note: this is unlikely as the Council would still have needed to satisfy the other conditions of Federal funding and would have needed to complete a competitive tender process to award the construction contract for the recycled water plant. So, the gap between needing additional water supplies and Water Futures coming online would have been ever greater.]

Allowing 18 months under construction, it would start putting the treated water into Cooby by January 2008.

Even taking into account the new bores coming on line progressively, Perseverance and Cressbrook would be empty by May 2009.

The recycled water in Cooby would not be available until January 2011.

Therefore, from May 2009 to January 2011, the only supply would be 75% from the bores.

In that situation, the city would experience enormous difficulties. Regarding sewage and effluent, the flows would be greatly reduced, and we would probably experience blockages in sewage mains.

The "yes" councillors should have realised all of the above before the referendum. Really, as long as conditions one and two above were in lace, the TCC should have postponed or cancelled the referendum and "yes" advertising.

The six "yes" councillors botched their Water Futures promotion and wasted over $400,000 in advertising.

Because of all of the above [the outgoing Mayor's] resignation is welcome. It would be even better should Crs Ramia, Englart, Albion, Schneider and Alroe resign as well.

BE
Toowoomba

Coal seam gas water - Chinchilla pushes towards water supply solution ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Chinchilla council pushes towards water supply solution

23 July 2007

Chinchilla Shire Council says it will renew efforts to secure a contract with nearby coal seam gas fields to supply water to the southern Queensland town.

The council has spent about $200,000 sinking a bore deep into Hutton Sandstone to see if bore water could supply Chinchilla's needs should the weir run dry.

But the initial results have shown the water is of bad quality and at least five bores would need to be drilled to meet requirements.

Mayor Bill McCutcheon says it will reapply for state and federal funding to re-use water that is produced from nearby coal seam gas fields.

"It does make it important now that we proceed as fast we can with the coal seam methane option and we're working hand-in-hand with the companies now to firm up the options and the costing," he said.

See - Coal seam gas water solution.

4350water blog - what are people searching for ...

It's sometimes interesting to see what search terms lead people to 4350water blog.

Here's a snapshot from the last day or so:

1. is it legal to use recycled water for human being in dubai

2. dubai water issues

3. emu creek dam positive

4. cistern manufacturers - dual flush

5. brisbane water contingency tender

6. abn amro morgans "water privatisation"

7. pressure groups recycled water toowoomba

8. groups against recycled water Brisbane

9. number of people wanting to drink recycled water

10. what countries use recycled water for drinking and positives and negatives for drinking recycled water

11. the issue- Recycled water in toowoomba

12. Toowoomba recycled water, endocrine disruptors

13. toowoomba recycled water

14. bad and good points on recycled water

15. palm jebelali wwtp itt.

16. what is the biologist most likely to do that would affect the quality of the water you drink?

17. detrimental effects of putting recycled water into dams

18. "waterwise wendy"

19. bruce flegg water abn

20. toowoomba debate on recycled water

21. toowoomba's recycled water project

22. 4350water

23. toowoomba super shire.

And we're not making it up - this from one of the national news organisations:

24. "thorley" and "toowoomba" and "husband".

People doing their research ...

Shire amalgamations - councils aim for referenda ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Councils aim for referenda

26 July 2007

At least 20 councils intend to hold ratepayer-funded referendums if they are earmarked for forced amalgamation.

Despite being branded a waste of time and taxpayers' money by the State Government, 20 councils revealed they were planning to hold the polls next month.

The Local Government Association of Queensland urged councils to give their constituents a say if it was recommended they amalgamate with neighbouring shires.

Local Government director-general Michael Kinnane last week ordered councils to provide any council resolutions about holding a poll to him by yesterday.

Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser, who has indicated he would use reserve powers to block the polls, said he would consider his options.
...

See - Government tactics to stop referenda.

Toowoomba ratepayers - modest rate rise ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

'Modest' 4.95% rate rise

25 July 2007

Toowoomba residents, on average, face a 4.95% rate rise across the city.

And those dreaded rate notices will include an extra $20, to $320, for your 20mm water access, an extra $6 (now $126) for the wheelie bin service and an extra $5 for park and bushland levy (now $30).

The $146 million budget brought down by Toowoomba City Council yesterday will cost the average ratepayer an extra $1.50 a week.
...

See - Modest rate rise.

Remember the outgoing Mayor's comments after losing the referendum last year - rates will go up by $900 for every household?

Expect more scaremongering as she packs her bags ...

Murray-Darling challenge ...

Excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Murray-Darling challenge will fail: Turnbull

25 July 2007

The Federal Government says a Victorian challenge to a commonwealth takeover of the Murray-Darling Basin will fail.

The prime minister announced yesterday that the commonwealth will use its constitutional powers to take control of the basin without Victoria's support.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has raised the possibility of High Court action to protect his state's water rights, but he's going it alone, with Queensland, NSW and South Australia supporting the $10 billion plan.
...

See - Challenge will fail.

Excerpt from news.com.au:

Water grab the 'start of privatisation'

25 July 2007

The Federal Government wants control of the Murray-Darling Basin so it can begin privatising the system, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says.

Prime Minister John Howard announced yesterday that the Commonwealth would use its constitutional powers to take control of the basin without the support of Victoria.

The other Murray-Darling states of Queensland, NSW and South Australia have already declared their support for the $10 billion rescue package, in which the states would give control of the basin to the Commonwealth.

But Victoria has refused to sign.

"This is a simple power grab from Canberra," Mr Bracks said this morning.

"And I've got no doubt, once Canberra get their hands on the Murray-Darling basin system they'll seek to privatise it, to get private capital in, to do what happens in parts of NSW," he said.

"That's what (Federal Water Minister) Malcolm Turnbull's told me would be a sensible, smart system for Victoria and I assume that's the aims that they want."

Mr Bracks said Mr Turnbull told him private ownership of irrigation systems was "a good move - it gets it out of your hands".
...

See - Privatisation of water.

Council boundaries report ready ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Council boundaries report ready

25 July 2007

Council amalgamations are expected to be recommended for the Sunshine Coast and throughout central Queensland despite widespread community opposition.

The Local Government Reform Commission has finalised its report into council boundaries, names and electoral arrangements – currently being printed – and plans to hand it to the Government within days.

State Cabinet is due to meet on Friday, fuelling speculation the report – and the Government's decision on the controversial issue – could be released that day.

While some mayors have accepted the mergers, others are shaping up for a bigger fight. Central Queensland Local Government Association president, Calliope councillor Rick Bichsel, said he expected the small rural shire would be merged with its urban neighbour Gladstone.
...

On the Sunshine Coast mayors were unwilling to show their hand.
...

Premier Peter Beattie said the Government would make the commission's report public on its receipt.
...

Parliament will decide on the commission's recommended boundary changes in September.

See - Council boundary carve-up.

SEQ - water charges to soar ...

Some TV viewers are probably still scratching their heads at Toowoomba's outgoing mayor's apparent glee on TV last night predicting that Toowoomba would pay the highest price for water.

As the outgoing Mayor, you would think that she would be concerned about the prospect of higher water charges.

Seems not.

She just wants to tell anyone who'll listen that the NO vote last year will mean that water costs in Toowoomba will go through the roof.

Pity it's more scaremongering from her. Something that Toowoomba residents are used to and now expect every time her face appears on TV. You'd think she's do the responsible thing for once in her mayoral career and accept the fact she has quit, pack up and go. But no, she has to try and have the last word on her failed recycled water plant. Bitter to the very end - when she only has herself to blame.

Needless to say, when she is long gone, Toowoomba still won't have run out of water.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Water charges to soar

24 July 2007

Southeast Queenslanders could soon be paying some of the highest water charges in the world, according to research by economic consultants.

The research showed Brisbane prices would soar past those in some of the world's biggest cities – including Amsterdam, London and Paris.

Brisbane residents currently pay the seventh-highest water charges in the world, according to data released yesterday by natural resources consultants Marsden Jacob.

However a report by the consulting firm shown recently to a private investor's lunch at stockbroker ABN Amro Morgans found water costs in Brisbane would surge past those in most of the world's big cities within five years.

Marsden Jacob's Dr Tony Hand said yesterday his team completed an international price comparison to 2012 which showed Brisbane ahead of even Tokyo, Zurich and Berlin, which consume large volumes of water in manufacturing.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has previously admitted water charges could double because the city would be forced to pass on the cost of the State Government's drought-proofing measures.

They include the Traveston Dam, the Tugun desalination plant and a water pipeline grid connecting southeast Queensland's major water reservoirs and dams.

Liberal leader Dr Bruce Flegg said both families and business would be hit by the huge price hike.

"It (the research) showed Brisbane water charges are expected to soar by 100 percent to $3.50/kL by 2012-13," Dr Flegg said. "This will be well beyond the next highest tariff of Melbourne at $2.30/kL and Sydney at $2.03/kL.

"The combined effects of higher water prices and higher charges for electricity will influence factors such as industry location and development." Dr Flegg blamed the sudden price rise on the Beattie Government's "massive under-investment" in water storage over the past 10 to 15 years.

"This combined with the fact the Government has no drought response plans prepared will push prices for water and electricity through the roof," he said.
...

See - What will water cost in 5 years?

NSW commercial water users still guzzling ...

Excerpt from news.com.au:

Commercial water users still guzzling

24 July 2007

Some of Sydney's top commercial water users are guzzling more of the precious commodity than they were when household water restrictions commenced five years ago.

Last month's drenching of the NSW coast and metropolitan water catchments was a sigh of relief but the worst drought in 100 years is far from over.

Of the top 50 commercial users in the state, 14 have increased their water consumption since 2002, figures obtained by Fairfax newspapers reveal.

The Tahmoor coalmine, near Wollongong, is the eighth largest water user in NSW and has boosted water use by 35 per cent in five years.

The Port Kembla coal loader is using 15 per cent more, or 70 million litres, since the 2002 household restrictions took affect.

Fairfax obtained the figures from a freedom of information request but Sydney Water has refused to release the names of the companies in its top 50 list. But Fairfax has learned the identities of many of the biggest water users, including all of the top 10.

BlueScope Steel topped the list with an annual water usage level of 13.2 million kilolitres but managed to reduce its usage by 4.5 per cent over the five year period.

Going down the list, Qenos used 3.3 million kilolitres and also reduced its usage over the period while third-place Caltex used 2.2 million kilolitres, which represented an increase of 6.8 per cent in usage since 2002.

See - Commercial water guzzlers.

Recycled water - if it's so great why keep it a secret ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Secret water shocks

21 July 2007

A secret report for the Queensland Water Commission proposes turning sewage effluent into drinking water on a mass scale throughout the southeast.

The report says pumping treated effluent into dams, and the construction of a second desalination plant at Pimpama, south of Brisbane, would seem the only way to avoid exhausting future water supplies to the southeast corner.

It lists a number of towns and dams that would add recycled sewage effluent to drinking water in Brisbane and bayside towns, the Sunshine and Gold coasts and Toowoomba.

A separate report to the commission outlines savage new water restrictions under levels 6 and 7 that will hit nurserymen, market gardeners, turf farmers and developers especially hard.

And total outdoor water bans would hit homeowners in new estates trying to establish gardens.

There would be a ban on topping up swimming pools and spas. Sports clubs would be hit with heavy restrictions on watering grounds.

It’s a story the water commission does not want you to read.

It fought my attempts to search for the documents under the Freedom of Information laws. This was a gross form of censorship against the spirit of the laws.

Some of the documents were later released on appeal. But they arrived with dozens of pages blanked out.

A contingency plan by engineering firm Kellogg Brown and Root says: “Due to the requirement for climate independence, only saltwater desalination, or saltwater desalination coupled with indirect potable reuse, can be considered.”

The report is political dynamite, and will fuel debate that planning for water security was neglected by successive governments.

It also warns that the completion of the water grid will not necessarily guarantee water security long-term.

An accompanying chart has recycled effluent returning to dams from 2011.

By 2056, the “contingency volume” required by the SEQ region will increase to 472,800 megalitres a year, it says.

It says Wivenhoe Dam could be topped up with recycled effluent and that Toowoomba’s supplies will have to be bolstered with recycled sewage effluent from the Wetalla waste water treatment plant topping up the city’s Cooby Dam.

The report said there are other “opportunities” to top up dams with recycled sewage effluent, with Sandgate supplying North Pine Dam, Merrimac and Elanora plants supplying Hinze Dam, Noosaville supplying Lake Macdonald, and Cleveland and Capalaba treatment plants supplying Leslie Harrison Dam.

As well, waste from the Pine Rivers, Caboolture and Redcliffe sewage treatment plants could be returned to Lake Kurwongbah.

Ipswich waste water would go to Wivenhoe Dam.

It says waste water plants at Luggage Point, Gibson Island, Oxley, Wacol, Goodna, and Bundamba would also go to Wivenhoe and could also be used in the cooling towers at Swanbank and Tarong power stations.

Another report by Cardno Queensland also promotes recycled sewage as a “valuable alternative water resource”.

More than a million Queenslanders already drink recycled sewage effluent. This happens when treated effluent is released upstream from a number of dams.

The southeast corner has 66 sewage treatment plants capable of producing treated effluent in case of an emergency.

End.


In both the Toowoomba and Brisbane examples, it was necessary to use the Freedom of Information legislation to obtain government documentation on recycled water.

In Toowoomba's case, the Toowoomba City Council resisted the FOI request and dragged their heels on its release as long as possible. The same seems to be the case in Brisbane.

If it's such a great idea to have people drinking recycled water and 70-80% of people agree with it as Toowoomba's outgoing Mayor and Premier Beattie would have you believe, why the reluctance to release the documentation for the public to read?

Why is it necessary to blank out pages of a report on recycled water?

Is it a national security risk?

Why is it all such a great secret ...

Canberra - the latest recycled water battleground ...

Excerpt from the Australian:

City to push effluent uphill

21 July 2007

It was a very Canberra moment for a well-educated, politically astute group at a dinner party in one of the national capital's better suburbs.

The conversation had turned, as it often does these days, to the most basic civilised urban amenity: water and the lack thereof. Canberra, the garden capital, has only just been reprieved by recent heavy rain from level-four water restrictions, which mean no outside watering.

But because of successive years of restrictions, street trees are dying and European gardens are being ploughed up in favour of more ecologically acceptable rockeries and tan bark. Desperate times mean desperate measures. Last summer, Canberra started to pump water from the Murrumbidgee river.

Now the ACT's Stanhope Government has proposed drawing on federal funds to introduce recycled sewage into the ACT's potable supply. This would start at nine gigalitres, rising to 20GL or 40 per cent of the potable water, which, it's believed, would be the highest proportion of recycled sewage of any large city in the world.

So naturally someone asked the question, "Would you drink recycled sewage?"

"We would have," they replied in unison, "until we heard Peter Collignon on the radio."

Australian National University professor Collignon, a microbiologist and head of the infectious diseases and microbiology unit at the Canberra Hospital, is one of Australia's foremost experts in infection control. If anyone knows about bugs, it is Collignon, and he is vehemently opposed to Canberra using recycled sewage in its drinking water.

He has expressed his opinion in The Canberra Times and in an interview on local ABC radio, when he enumerated the risks. The effect on the capital's complacent intelligentsia was akin to Moses' descent from Sinai. In this eco-correct core of the national capital, that is no small feat.

Collignon's opposition to the plan is simple. Canberra just doesn't need to take the risk of introducing recycled sewage to the potable supply. From a public health view, introducing recycled sewage into the drinking supply is a last-ditch scenario because, unlike many parts of the world - for example Singapore, which uses the bulk of its recycled water for industry, or parts of Africa, where a natural water supply is a scarce commodity - Canberra has a plentiful and pure natural supply. Indeed, one compelling reason for choosing the site of the national capital was its water supply.

Says Collignon: "Worldwide there are localities where there is no alternative but to accept the risks associated with using recycled sewage. However, whenever possible, when we can avoid placing treated sewage into it is obviously desirable to avoid this hazard. In Canberra there is no reason to take this risk."

He makes no bones about the hazards: infections by virulent pathogens, the ones we know about and a lot of new ones; possible contamination with oestrogen, which is almost impossible to break down, and antibiotic drugs; and ultimately the worst-case scenario, the possible catastrophic effects of system failure.

"If coliforms (for example, E. coli) are present in the treated water, this implies faecal contamination and thus a failure of the system," he says. "Around the world, numerous outbreaks with water contaminated with viruses and cryptosporidiosis have occurred despite low or zero coliform counts. These indicator bacteria take one or two days to grow and identify."

Because of this factor, Collignon is also worried there is no plan in the ACT for storage of the treated sewage water in aquifers, as in California.

"Presumably the water will be pumped directly back into our dams after treatment," he says. "This will mean that even when we detect a failure with our treatment system, there will be little we can do about it because the contaminated water will already be in our dams."

Sewage recycling, particularly with reverse osmosis, is also expensive. The estimated cost is in the vicinity of $150 million, as much as the cost of expanding Canberra's rain catchment.
Collignon argues that introducing expensive sewage recycling as the first option, rather than reversing the priority and building a larger dam, is illogical.

It is hard to ignore someone of his professional status. His view is backed by an increasingly vocal group in Canberra that blames the Stanhope Government's failure to manage Canberra's water supply, more than any dire long-term necessity, for the shortage and that is asking where all the water has gone.

The easy answer is the drought. At the end of 2005 Stanhope declared that drought over, although this was news to the residents who soon found themselves back on water restrictions in 2006.

However, the ACT has large volumes of unused water. The territory uses only about 65GL a year (of which 30GL is returned to the system) and it is a big exporter of water to NSW (about 471GL a year). There is growing suspicion that the situation facing Canberra may not have arisen if it had better storage capacity and if so much water had not been let downstream in environmental flows.

Last year, which local water, power and gas authority ACTEW head Michael Costello has dubbed the horror drought year, the ACT had 25GL flow into the dams and let out 17GL. On average, about 46GL is released in environmental flows and 75GL is lost in spills. Spills occur frequently with the Cotter dam because of its low storage capacity.

As Collignon points out, this released water is relatively free from infection. He asks: "Why not find ways to withhold 9GL of this water? Is this not a better option than pumping 9GL of very expensively treated waste-water upstream into our reservoirs when we cannot be assured it will always be free of harmful microbes?" Good question.

The increasing public disquiet over the lack of consultation about the recycling option is a setback for the Stanhope Government which, ironically, is facing criticism from its former minister for health, Simon Corbell. The attempt to sneak water recycling under the radar of public scrutiny is only the latest embarrassment for Stanhope's Labor Government, which looks increasingly incompetent, driven by ideology and the politics of distraction.

To cap it off, June was a wet month, with more than double the average rainfall, bringing the year's rainfall so far close to the normal 65-year average. Yet, according to ACTEW's figures, Canberra's dams are only 40 per cent full. The water authority has put up the price of water again by a minimum of $75 a household, and introduced new megalitre usage charges that will particularly hit family households.

The Orwellian reasoning behind the price hike is typical of the place many of us call Nohoperstan. Due to water restrictions that have halved Canberra's regular usage, ACTEW revenue has fallen this past year, so the price must go up. Because Canberrans did the right thing, they are being punished for it.

See - Canberra - recycled water battleground.

US White House drug policy - what you can toss down the toilet ...

See - What you can toss down the toilet.

Canberra recycled water proposal questioned ...

Excerpt from IBN News:

Liberals question recycling plant proposal

19 July 2007

A sewage recycling plant at the centre of the ACT government's water2Water proposal could be yet another white elephant, the Canberra Liberals say.

The ACT opposition has obtained a letter dated April 3 from ACTEW CEO Michael Costello which states recycled water may not be necessary.

"The balance of probability is that the extremely severe conditions of 2006 will not be repeated, and that there will be sufficient water to meet our needs without having to use recycled water," the letter says.

The recycled water project should be viewed "as essential insurance which we hope we will seldom, if ever, have to call upon", Mr Costello wrote.

Opposition leader Bill Stefaniak says the cost of building the plant may not be worth it.

'At a cost of $150 million, this may be very expensive insurance," he said.

"It's time the government gave us all the options with the pros and cons and the costs, and give the people of Canberra a chance to make an assessment and provide truly well-informed feedback."

See - If it rains, will everyone forget about recycled water?

TCC - gathering the perks while you can ...

Interesting article in today's Courier Mail.

An excerpt:

Councillor perks to cost more

20 July 2007

Proposed changes to the tax status of councillors could mean ratepayers paying more for the perks provided to their local politicians.

Local government councillors' extra benefits such as entertainment, cars and phones – already paid by ratepayers – may cost extra if the council has to pay the fringe benefits tax.

Most councillors are employed akin to contractors, meaning the council does not have to pay their tax share.

But some councillors want to become employees for tax purposes in order to sacrifice some of their income for superannuation.

This had the flipside of making councils responsible for the tax payments.

Most southeast Queensland councils are currently debating the changes, including Redland Shire Council, which is conducting a 30-day public notification period before accepting the provision.

Council officers estimated it would cost the bayside shire between $30,000 and $50,000 each year.

Brisbane ratepayers already pay the tax on their councillors' perks but a council spokesman would not outline the cost.

Ipswich councillors will continue to take advantage of the change as they have since 2000 – costing ratepayers $10,000.

Redcliffe council is awaiting more information after a fringe benefits tax bill of $1218.81 from February to March but last week ceased treating councillors as employees.

See - Councillor perks to cost more.

All the more interesting given that, at the Committee Committee meeting on 6 June, Councillor Sue Englart requested that Councillors be briefed 'by experts in the field of superannuation' on Councillor salary sacrifice and other superannuation issues.

See - Apprentice starves while Toowoomba Councillor jams money into super.

SEQ continues to shiver ...

The Bureau of Meteorology said temperatures fell below zero for the first time since records began at Coolangatta, on the Gold Coast, and at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.

See - Courier Mail - State's cold snap continues.

Climate change skeptics will say - 'so much for global warming'.

Climate change believers will say - 'it shows climate change is real'.

Others might say - 'damn it's cold this morning' ...

Sydney's desal plant gets go ahead ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Desalination plant gets go ahead

19 July 2007

Construction of Sydney's desalination plant will begin within a fortnight after the NSW government officially signed the contract.

Leighton Holdings and its joint venture partner, water services company Veolia Water, were awarded the $1.76 billion contract to design, build, operate and maintain the plant at Kurnell in Sydney's south for 20 years.

See - Desal goes ahead.

$40,000 carbon neutrality assessments ...

See - Carbon neutrality assessments - the reality of carbon neutrality.

Consumers are fooling themselves if they think that the rush to promote companies as being environmentally friendly will not be passed on in higher prices for goods and services ...

Qld Council boundaries - it's just not cricket ...

Local councils take to YouTube to combat the Beattie PR ad campaign.

Watch it here - YouTube - taking on Beattie.

Water Futures - game over ...

Read the Bligh letter calling game over to any plans for a stand alone recycled water plant in Toowoomba.

See - Anna Bligh - game over.

Former Beattie Minister set to escape assault charges ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Purcell on knife edge

16 July 2007

Forner emergency services minister Pat Purcell looks set to escape being charged over the alleged assault that cost him his political career.

The two public servants he is alleged to have slapped have been interviewed by anti-corruption officers but are understood to be resisting lodging formal complaints with police.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission can continue an inquiry without formal complaints, but the matter can take longer to resolve – and the body has no power to recommend disciplinary action against MPs.
...

See - Courier Mail - Purcell likely to get off.

Israeli desal technology takes hold in India ...

IDE Technologies’ 20 thermal desalination plants, installed in five companies, provide 200 million litres of water a day.

See - Desal in India.

Qld politics - Seeney plotting to oust Flegg ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Seeney plotting to oust Flegg

10 July 2007

The troubled state Coalition faces a bitter showdown as Nationals leader Jeff Seeney leads a charge to ditch Liberal leader Bruce Flegg.Mr Seeney has been warned by his own executive that the Coalition faces being dissolved if Dr Flegg remains leader.

The ultimatum has come from the Nationals executive, sparking Mr Seeney to secretly ring Liberal MPs to warn them of Dr Flegg's "intolerable" position and his negative impact on the upcoming federal election.

Mr Seeney yesterday refused to confirm or deny the revelations but partly blamed Dr Flegg for recent speculation about Mr Seeney's future as Coalition leader.

While conceding the position of the leader of the Liberals was a matter for the Liberal Party, Mr Seeney said there were "a number of people in the National Party concerned about Dr Flegg's" performance.

See - Coalition plots - Beattie laughs.

Premier Beattie must be laughing into his latte this morning ...

KRudd - what to expect ...

See - KRudd - the Qld experience.

Carbon offsets - the latest gimmick ...

... this time, buy a t-shirt (from $48-$68) and the company will engage in some clean energy or energy efficiency projects.

See - All shirty about carbon.

Problem is each t-shirt uses around 2,000 litres of water in manufacturing.

See - How much water does it take to produce.

Hardly an environmentally friendly business plan ...

TCC and 4350water go head to head ...

Always interesting to see who wanders onto the 4350water blog and leaves comments.

As you read through the questions and the responses, Mr Flanagan's view of the blame game becomes quite clear. He accepts absolutely no responsibility for the Toowoomba City Council's failed Water Futures campaign. It was those rotten No campaigners who spoiled the party.

So it must have been the No campaigners who voted to give the Yes case $460,000 to squander on the Yes campaign.

It must have been the No campaigners who cobbled together the NWC application in closed door meetings.

It must have been the No campaigners who wrote the referendum question.

It must have been the No campaigners who published the Water Book showing nothing got through the membranes.

It must have been the No campaigners who told people that the coal seam gas water was carcinogenic and implied that an RO plant couldn't clean the water - only to see Dalby get State and Federal funding to use gas water for their town water supply.

It must have been the No campaigners threatening people if they weren't going to vote Yes.

It must have been the No campaigners going into schools with Waterwise Wendy to scare the children.

It must have been the No campaigners who wrote, published and aired the Yes campaign ads.

It must have been the No campaigners who wanted to march the children through the streets.

It must have been the No campaigners who thought pizza, balloons and movie tickets were a winning strategy.

Etc etc etc.

Question 1:

When did you commence working on a strategy to introduce potable reuse into Toowoomba?

KF: Initially I started thinking about the possibility in November 2004 on a trip to the Hunter Valley to see how mines are supplied with water from treatment plants. I was further motivated to investiagte further in December 2004 when DNRM&W advised of our reduced yielsd.

4350water: Given that Toowoomba City Council was discussing potable reuse with consultants as early as 1996, it seems unlikely that Council wasn't considering the issue until 2004.

Question 2:

Why was this not disclosed to the public at that time?

KF: Simple it was still being developed . The National Water Commission Guidelines for funding were not released until April 2005 and it took until June 2005 to develope the strategy . It was developed with the concurrence of all members of council and was released to the public in the launch by Member for Groom Hon Ian Macfarlane in the first week of July 2005.

4350water: The bigger question is - with such a well developed strategy to introduce potable reuse to Toowoomba, why were the voters not told of this prior to the 2004 Toowoomba City Council election? Why wait until after the election?

Question 3:

Prior to the public announcement, what was the nature of the discussions between Council representatives and CH2M Hill?

KF: Prior to the public release CH2MHill were engaged to carry out feasibility studies and costings of some of the treatment componants. Other consultants such as Arup Water, Tyco Water, GHD, CSIRO and 4 site natural solutions were also engaged , but any reference to them does not assist you with portraying CH2MHill as the bogey in your conspiracy theories.

4350water: It doesn't aid conspiracy theories one way or the other to ask - what were the nature of those discussions? Were any of the advisers interested in using Toowoomba as the test case for potable reuse plants elsewhere in Australia? If not, why would it be necessary to build an edutainment centre?

Question 4:

Why did the Toowoomba City Council resist releasing the NWC funding application?

KF: Did we? you got what you wanted via the FOI process.

4350water: The Toowoomba City Council did drag its heels as much as possible - it was an extremely silly move as it only made the No campaigners more determined to get hold of it and see what the Council wanted to hide. Incidentally, this was the first that people knew that 30 mgs/l TDS got through the membranes. It was not disclosed by the Toowoomba City Council prior to this time.

Question 5:

Why has the Toowoomba City Council been unable to produce the hydrology report that it used as the basis for justifying that Toowoomba needed a recycled water plant and for requesting federal funding?

KF: The DNRW carried out the review and advised of our revised yield in Dec 04. In all our presentations we advised of the DNRW advice and further commented that the DNRW were yet to release the repot. The did finally release a draft in July 2006 and the report was presented to Council ( Public Document) in Nov 2006. It is draft because the current drought is the critical drought in the review and until the drought ends the yield has the potential to change further. Having said that the advice given verbally in Dec 2004 has not changed in the july 06 draft.

4350water: Toowoomba City Council made a federal government funding application on the basis of a document which did not exist. You can try to dress it up as 'verbal advice' (perhaps a chat down the pub over dam levels) or 'draft reports' but there was no report, there is no report and it was silly to claim otherwise in the NWC funding application.

Question 6:

Why were the costings for the Water Futures project never independently assessed? Not the other options - the Water Futures costings. The Parsons Brinkerhoff report assumed the Council's figures were correct and just added 10% on top for cost increases. That's not an assessment.

KF: Our estimates were verified By the National Water Commission who were happy to approve the funding based on our submission . The so called other options we bandied about by the no case with out any costings and it was only by TCC and State Governments actions that these other options were costed.

4350water: Same question - why were the Water Futures project costings never independently assessed? Here's a thought - they weren't independently assessed because it would have clearly shown that Water Futures wasn't the cheapest option - much of the Toowoomba City Council's advertising focused on Water Futures being cheaper than the other options. It never was and the project would have saddled Toowoomba with an unsustainable debt burden. That would have been the Yes campaigners' legacy.

Question 7:

Why did the Toowoomba City Council maintain that nothing could get through the RO membranes, even using diagrams in promotional material showing this - when this was not correct?

KF: We advised that 30 ppm of total Dissolved Salts could pass the RO membrane and that is why we added the Advanced oxidation and UV disinfection as additional barriers. Multi barrier system to ensure the purity of the product But heck I will never convince you lot.

4350water: The misleading information on TDS first came to light once the NWC funding application was released. Toowoomba City Council released its Water Book with the misleading diagram and was then forced to backflip and admit that not everything was stopped by the membranes. It was an amateurish mistake that would never have been made if Council had actually looked at the NEWater video rather than focusing on their brochures.

Question 8:

Why does the Toowoomba City Council think that they can build a recycled water plant for $68 million when the three SEQ recycled water plants and associated pipelines (although larger) will cost around $2 billion?

KF: We dont.Its your action that have prevented that . If we would have received the funding in Sept 2005 as Minister Macfarlane was sure to advise us at the launch in july 05,we would have recieved extremely competitive tenders and would have delivered the project by august this year. The market today is inflated markedly by the urgency to supply water infrastructure projects in SEQ and the rest of Australia. The no case proponants have ensured that what ever solution awaits Toowoomba it is going to at a much greater cost.

4350water: So, the Toowoomba City Council is now admitting it cannot build a recycled water plant for $68 million? Perhaps you should tell some of the Councillors this startling admission. The point about 'competitive tenders' is interesting. In the original documentation for the Wetalla expansion, the CH2M Hill consortium had an option to build the Water Futures plant. This was subsequently dropped. Seems like at one point there was to be no competitive tender process for the Water Futures plant. Why the backflip?

Question 9:

Why did the Toowoomba City Council not make any statement that Water Futures was not a solution to the drought until it was reported in the Chronicle in March 2006, 8 months after the project was announced?

KF: Water Futures was never a drought solution . Any statements that it was was a fabrication of the no case

4350water: So the No campaigners were responsible for writing and publishing the Yes campaign ads?

Question 10:

Why do you call the Water Facts group a 'sham' when it was in fact skewed towards the Yes campaign?

KF: Clearly it was a sham. Alan Kleinschmidt and I only became members after protesting about the bias. The original membership was Doug Harland, Ian Andersen,Rod Scott,Paul Rigby,Ken Murphy,Snow Manners, Cr Lyle Shelton, Peter Marks,John McVeigh, Cr Ian Orford,Terry Kirkland,Ron Barclay and Clive Berghofer. Hardly the original makeup can be classed as pro Water Futures.

4350water: The public statements made by the Water Facts group were usually skewed towards the Yes case. But perhaps the 'advertorial' Chronicle shares some responsibility for that.

Question 11:

Was the outgoing Mayor's tactic of using radio rather than print media to claim 70% support for the recycled water project a planned strategy?

KF: I dont know maybe you should ask her.

4350water: Perhaps if the question is reframed. Was it Toowoomba City Council policy to have the outgoing Mayor use radio rather than print media for her claims of 70% support?

Question 12:

Where did the Toowoomba City Council propose to send the RO waste stream, given that it was never likely that New Acland Coal wanted the waste stream? 'Cool on the idea' was their response.

KF: What makes you think that Acland Coal does not want our effluent? Dont give me the excuse that they are taking 150 ML/yr from Oakey and that will underpin their expansion

4350water: Perhaps the fact that they never made a public statement in support of the project or confirmed that they would take the RO waste stream. It seemed like they wanted something in the form of recycled water but not the RO waste stream the Council wanted to dump on them. In the private sector, a bankable feasibility study for a project would require a contractual commitment from a party who was so crucial to the project's success. Perhaps government projects go along on 'a wing and a prayer'. The RO waste stream was a significant flaw in the plan - in the NWC funding application, CH2M Hill even raised the possibility of piping it to the sea - like Singapore.

Question 13:

Why did the Toowoomba City Council try to get the State government to shut down blogs reporting on the Toowoomba water debate in April 2006 when neither the Council nor the State government had the legal right to do so? What justification was there for harassing particular blogs in an attempt to stifle political debate? Did the Council intend to shut down every chatroom where someone mentioned the Toowoomba water debate?

KF: Thats news to me. Did we do that? Maybe you are a little paranoid!!

4350water: Another attempt to reinvent history. There was an attempt by the Local Government Minister's office to sideline blogs focusing on the No campaign. Perhaps they came up with this idea all by themselves.

Question 14:

Why would you think that any legal proceedings would not involve a discussion of the implied constitutional freedom of political communication?

KF: See my comment to anonymous john earlier. (my point is not about taking any action against bloggs per se ,it relates to legal action that is open when a person defams another person by comments attributed to them in other forms of media where names have to be disclosed.)

4350water: Should you feel that any particular comment about you in a blog article on the 4350water blog goes beyond 'fair comment', it will be immediately reviewed and, if appropriate, amended.

Read the other comments here - The TCC, 4350water et al discussion.

If the Council wants to futher respond, the responses will be included in this post ...

Why the QWC is the Beattie government's scape goat ...

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

Goodwill dries up

7 July 2007

The Queensland Water Commission has to rely on the good grace of the residents of southeast Queensland to do its job.

But the goodwill shown by thousands of Queenslanders cutting their daily water use is drying up at the same pace as some of our regions.

Both the Government, and the commission, sell the body as an independent entity charged with the crucial task of delivering sensible water policy, implementing water restrictions and creating water savings.

But that doesn't tell the whole story and in reality the commission now plays a twin role falling well short of any definition of independent.

The $18 million body, set up under the Water Act 2000, has become both the marketing arm for State Government policy, and the buffer for Team Beattie from any community anger.

And the commission is playing that partisan role well, accepting with open arms the responsibility and marketing of issues and policies that should be the domain of an elected government.

The consequence of this is that it allows the Government to escape voters' wrath for its lack of planning in relation to water infrastructure.
...

That's a point not lost on one senior Labor MP who put it this way: "Why wear the flak when we don't have to."

But while the commission is saving the Government on the water front, it is creating strong enemies among many of the local councils which have had to hand off their water functions.

And at least four councils are now openly briefing journalists about the "litany of disasters" they believe the commission is responsible for.

The latest is the water usage form, sent out to high users and re-sent to many who had done the right thing in the first place and responded.

Councils remain furious their logos are on the form, despite no senior council officers or elected councillors being involved in its preparation. But some councils feel their hands are tied when it comes to publicly criticising the Water Commission; to come out in opposition of the commission, one senior staffer calls "the runaway train", risks mayors being pilloried.
...

Elizabeth Nosworthy, who heads the commission, is also not going great strides in helping the public perception of her operation either.

This week, she was warning of the same "crisis" she refused to acknowledge only a couple of months ago.

And her explanation for why some residents were getting second reminder notices on Thursday, weeks after those ratepayers responded to the commission, also raised more questions than answers.

But we didn't vote in Nosworthy and any wrath over how the whole southeast water operation is being undertaken should be laid squarely at the feet of the Government.

See - Beattie's scapegoat.

TCC and 4350water go head to head ...

The Q&A session you've waited almost two years to read.

Read it here - The TCC, 4350water et al discussion.

Toowoomba City Council - writing on the wall ...

Letter of the day, the Chronicle 5 July 2007 (annotated):

Writing on the wall

Without doubt the one quality a new mayor for Toowoomba should possess is the ability to consult with ratepayers on every issue that could ultimately change their daily lives and living conditions.

One thing that could never be said about our current mayor is that she lacked passion for the job, but to divide a community like the way we saw Toowoomba divided during the Water Futures debacle is unforgivable.

From a personal point of view, I thought [the outgoing mayor] has the steady hand that Toowoomba needed, bringing to council a different style of leadership [!], with the ability to lead this city into the future and beyond.

And indeed, she did just that. But she lost me and a lot of other ratepayers with the divisive debate on recycled water and the waste of money involved - this from a civic leader is, in my view, absolutely intolerable. I think the writing was on the wall as soon as Snow Manners won his seat on council and I think it is also on the wall for a number of other present day councillors.

I now think it is time, with nearly nine months to go, to sweep the slate clean and consolidate the push for Snow Manners to become Toowoomba's next mayor.

Like it or not, he is the best suited to the job, simply by virtue of the fact that he is a serving councillor, who shows the diplomacy and tact that was evident last year when Toowoomba became the centre of attention in Australia - for all the wrong reasons.

RH

Toowoomba

Live Earth live feed ...

Watch the Live Earth concert here - Live Earth.

Marvel at all the artists stepping off their private jets to sing a few songs before reboarding to fly home again ...

See also - Who's that chasing the blogger?

Engineering Head Flanagan 'fast and loose' with the truth ...

Toowoomba City Council Engineering Head Kevin Flanagan seems to have a short memory.

He's quoted in today's Chronicle as saying at this week's Council meetings:

Toowoomba, he said, even under the Water Futures proposal, would need an external water source by 2025.

"Purified water was to be a long-term supply and never a drought contingency."

"No matter what, the city's drought contingency is water from the Great Artesian Basin," he said.

See - Flanagan tries a bit of misdirection.

This is the song Mr Flanagan currently sings.

But it wasn't always that way.

As part of the 'do anything say anything' approach to recycled water, Mr Flanagan tried to sell the Water Futures recycled water plant as the ultimate solution.

Claims by opponents that recycled water wasn't a solution were ridiculed. It was THE solution.

Things became a little tougher once the NWC funding application was wrestled off the Toowoomba City Council under a FOI request.

The funding application showed some interesting assumptions. Key was the one that assumed that the drought had broken by the time recycled water was to flow into Cooby Dam.

Opponents maintained the pressure and finally the truth was revealed at the first Water Facts meeting in March 2006.

Mr Flanagan stunned others around the table by stating that the Water Futures project was 'never intended to get Toowoomba through the drought'.

See - Water Futures was never intended to get Toowoomba through the current drought.

Once that cat was out of the bag, there was no stuffing it back in.

So the new game was to try to show that the Council had always said this.

But Toowoomba people knew better.

They knew that the Council had lied to them. Told them that with recycled water they could happily wash their cars and water their lawns once again. Told them recycled water was the magic bullet for Toowoomba's water source issues. Told them there were no other options.

So it's no surprise Mr Flanagan is still trying to recreate history.

But with the Toowoomba recycled water debate so well chronicled on the blogs, it's quite easy for him to trip up ...

Beattie Minister quits after assaulting staff ...

Premier Beattie's cabinet past and present is becoming quite a roll call:

- one former Minister now in jail
- another former Minister awaiting trial
- now a current Minister is allegedly assaulting staff.

Is it just a case of 'anything goes' if you are a Beattie Minister?

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

State minister hit staff

6 July 2007

Former state minister Pat Purcell was forced to resign after hitting two Emergency Services staff.

The staff are understood to have complained to Premier Peter Beattie, who then ordered Mr Purcell to resign from Cabinet because of concerns about his temper.

Mr Purcell did not return calls to The Courier-Mail last night but earlier had appeared to confirm that he had not resigned voluntarily, saying it had been a "shock" and there had been a confrontation.

"There could be some truth in that," he told Channel 7, but would not comment further.
...

See - State minister 'hit staff'.

Councillor Alroe urges Toowoomba citizens to rise up ...

... 62% say "No, we'll show you what we think in March 2008".

Extraordinary scenes in Council chambers yesterday as a number of Councillors showed just how bitter they are about following the path set by the outgoing Mayor and the impending loss of their comfortable jobs at the next Council election.

For some bizarre reason they think that if they could somehow get a recycled water plant built in Toowoomba by next March for $68 million, the Toowoomba community will take pity on them and vote them back in so they can continue to enjoy the prestige of their gourmet sandwiches and seafood buffets.

As Council meetings go, it rates high on the 'dummy spit factor'.

It just shows you the alternative universe in which they live.

Anna Bligh sends a letter to the Council reaffirming the State government's position that Toowoomba should not have a stand alone recycled water plant.

(Read the letter here - Anna's response.)

A number of the Councillors bemoan the fact and the 'loss' of State and Federal funding.

They conveniently forget to mention all the other conditions of the Federal funding, none of which were met.

They also conveniently forget to mention that the $68 million project cost was a figure plucked out of the air by Toowoomba City Council.

They won't mention that Premier Beattie's three recycled water plants and associated pipelines will cost around $2 billion. No, they still believe that $2 billion divided by 3 equals $68 million.

They refuse to discuss where the RO waste stream will go for their magical $68 million plant. Perhaps they'll stuff the waste stream into their ratepayer-funded cars after each Council meeting and truck it home. (If they flush it down the toilet, it will just end up at their next Council meeting.)

The outgoing Mayor's recycled water project was doomed from the start. The game plan was simple - we have no idea what it will cost but let's say $68 million and then we can just call the cost overruns inevitable and jam them into rates increase in later years. Once we start building it, the people can't stop us and they'll just have to pay for it. We're dooming future generations in the city to a terrible debt burden but what do we care? Consulting jobs for everyone!

But the people weren't that dumb, as the referendum vote showed.

And yet still Councillors Alroe, Englart, Alroe and Albion persist.

Today's print version of the Chronicle labelled them a 'hostile pack of female Councillors'.

For some truly bizarre reason they think that continually trying to resurrect the deader than dead Water Futures recycled water plant will somehow get them votes next March. If only they could built it by then for $68 million.

Councillor Englart wants to declare 29 July 'Sorry Day' in Toowoomba.

Perhaps it should:

- sorry for wasting $1 million of ratepayers' funds
- sorry for saying there were no other options
- sorry for saying that it's done all over the world
- sorry for using non-existent documents as the basis for their decision
- sorry for saying the gas water would kill you
- sorry for trying to buy your votes with pizza and movie tickets
- sorry for sitting on our hands since the referendum vote.

It's quite clear that 15 March 2008 will be Goodbye Day ....

You can read the Chronicle's version of yesterday's events here - Attack by pack of female Councillors ...

Bligh tells Toowoomba City Council - no stand alone recycled water plant ...

Read the letter here - Anna's letter.

End of story.

Al Gore, a Toyota Prius and a few joints ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Police in California have arrested former vice-president Al Gore's son, also named Albert Gore, after finding marijuana and narcotics in his low-emissions car.

Orange County Sheriff's deputies spotted Gore's blue Toyota Prius going more than 160kmh on the I-5, the main north-south highway on the west coast, early today, police said.

When they pulled him over, police smelled marijuana, searched the car and allegedly found more of the drug, as well as vicodin, valium, xantax, and adderal, which is used to treat attention deficit disorder.

"He did not have prescriptions for any of these medications," said sheriff's department spokesman Jim Amormino.

See - It's a greenhouse gas man.

Global warming never seemed so surreal ...

Another Beattie Minister quits ...

More woes for Beattie as he is forced to show another Minister the door.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Minister quits Beattie cabinet

5 July 2007

Emergency Services Minister Pat Purcell has been forced out of the ministry following a confrontation with public servants from his department.

In a shock move late yesterday, Premier Peter Beattie announced the minister's departure at a hastily convened 5.10pm press conference.

Mr Beattie said Mr Purcell had resigned for "personal reasons".

But Emergency Services sources last night said it followed complaints to the Premier about the minister's behaviour.

The physically imposing Mr Purcell, 60, is known for boisterous "blokey" behaviour, his larger-than-life personality and booming voice.

The complaints are understood to have come after earlier talks between the minister and premier about Mr Purcell's long-term future.

See - Another Beattie Minister goes.

Dubai - treated water: clean, pure sewage, sir ...

Excerpt from Express - UAE News:

Treated Water: Clean, Pure Sewage, Sir?

1 July 2007

Recycled water has become big business in Dubai, with a growing number of developments luring buyers with the promise of green grass, trees, golf courses and advanced cooling systems.

But with water shortages being a major issue in the Middle East, will sewage water ever stream from our kitchen taps?

Unlikely, say experts.

When Singaporean officials drank treated sewage water in front of their counterparts in Dubai – illustrating its safety – the response from local officials was swift and unanimous: not here.

Although Dubai Municipality and private developers have invested heavily in treating waste water, industry experts are highly doubtful that treated sewage would ever replace desalinated and ground water as a source of drinking water.

“Sewage water can be very easily converted into drinking water,” said Dr Clifford Randall, Professor Emiritus at Virginia Tech University, who recently made a visit to Dubai.

“It’s more about the psychological aspects. People don’t want to know they’re drinking converted sewage water,” he said.

However, according to Randall, properly treated sewage water contains less than a tenth of a per cent of contamination (under 1,000mg/litre) – less than desalinated seawater (33,000mg/ litre) on which the UAE greatly relies.

“Using sewage as drinking water will never happen,” said a Municipality project engineer in the Drainage and Irrigation Department, who did not wish to be named. “If people came to know that they were drinking sewage, they’d surely not drink it.”

One of the few countries in the world to use waste water to supplement the state’s water supply is Singapore.

In an effort to maintain its self-sufficiency, Singapore invested heavily in NEWater, which goes through a stringent purification and treatment process. NEWater is a brand name given to treated sewage water by Singapore Public Utilities. After the sewage process is completed, NEWater is mixed and blended with reservoir water, then undergoes conventional water treatment to produce a drinkable liquid.

The Municipality official said the reasons sewage cannot be converted are both cultural and religious.

“Mosques have approached Municipality about setting up a water connection but once they knew it would be derived from sewage, they refused. They say it isn’t clean,” he said.

However, Shaikh Ahmad Al Qubaisi, a prominent Islamic scholar, told XPRESS that there is absolutely no problem with using purified sewage water for ablution bathing or even drinking.

“If the skin of an animal is considered unclean by its death and the process of taxidermy would then render the skin clean, then the same logic applies to purified sewage water where the treatment process is a thousand times more intricate and advanced.”

Mohammad Hijaz, General Manager of Eagle Electromechanical, which runs a sewage plant at Arabian Ranches, said treated sewage water must first go back to the earth.

“It has to be released back into nature to enrich the ground. From there, it can be taken back as human use water,” where it could be collected from a reservoir, he said.

This however, has not stemmed the brisk pace of business currently taking place in the sewage treatment industry.

Dubai Municipality is the main conduit for waste water usage throughout the city – buying and selling to various projects and developments for use in irrigation. However, the industry has increasingly seen a surge in privatisation, with the Municipality unable to support all the sewage.

Hijaz, who has seen his company grow tenfold since 2000 says that the municipality initially had difficulty coping with the growth of Dubai, hence the privatisation of the industry.

“The central plant and network were not up to the level of development that has occurred in the last five years, and some investors were forced to build sewage plants because the Municipality was not ready to receive the sewage,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Municipality signed an agreement worth Dh1.5 billion for the construction of a waste water treatment facility south-east of the Jebel Ali Free Zone capable of handling 300,000 cubic metres a day. This will supplement the capacity of the existing plant in Al Awir and will be completed in three years, enough time for private companies to mushroom. When the facility is completed, the sewage-treatment industry will mean big business for the Municipality, said Hijaz.

And the question will be whether or not private companies will still be allowed into the market.

Flushed Away At the Eagle Electromechanical sewage treatment station, the things found in the waste water have shocked engineers.

“We have found shirts, bras, mobile phones, pants and rocks,” said Tarek Obaid, the mechanical engineer who overseas the site.

“We had to install a new bar screen because of this.

Normally, this should be checked once a month, but here we collect 200-300kg every two to three days.”

Warming Effects Dr Clifford Randall believes one of the greatest dangers that Dubai will face in the next 15 years is global warming.

“By 2020, the effects will be massive and when global warming reaches its peak, Dubai could be flooded by sea water. Building dykes may be in Dubai’s future.”

See - Dubai gives the thumbs down to potable reuse.

Could you pass 8th grade science ...

Think you know a thing or two about science?

Take a short quiz to determine if you'd pass an 8th grade science test.

Take the test here - 8th grade science test.

Beattie ultimatum - no poll on shire amalgamations ...

... and if you have one, he'll stop you.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Councils defiant on poll

4 July 2007

Some councils will push ahead with local referendums on forced amalgamations despite the State Government vowing it will block the polls.

Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser said yesterday that the Government would not allow councils to "waste ratepayers' money" on the polls and would override councils' decisions.

But while western Queensland councils were determined to hold the referendums to show democracy in action, some urban councils have deemed them misguided.

On Monday the Local Government Association of Queensland issued legal advice showing councils tipped to be merged could hold polls on August 18 to show "the will of the people".

By August 1, widespread council boundary changes are expected to be recommended by the Local Government Reform Commission, which was established by the State Government in April. Final borders will be determined by State Parliament by September 1.

Western Queensland Local Government Association president Dougal Davidson said the bid to block local polls exposed the Government's arrogance.
...

See - Beattie ultimatum - no poll.

Goulburn eases water restrictions after 3 years ...

Excerpt from news.com.au:

Goulburn eases water restrictions after 3 years

4 July 2007

The NSW southern highlands city of Goulburn, which had come to symbolise the plight of the state's drought-stricken rural areas, has eased its water restrictions following June's heavy rain.

Level five water restrictions were downgraded to level three at a meeting of the Goulburn Mulwaree council last night. The move, which comes into effect at midnight tomorrow, will be welcomed by local farmers and residents who suffered the highest level of water restrictions for almost three years.

Phil Hansen, Goulburn Mulwaree's director of engineering services, said overall dam levels were now at 56 per cent capacity and warranted the easing of restrictions.

See - Amazing Goulburn - it rained!

Desal scare tactics - the whales will die ...

See - SMH - The whales will die and we won't be able to fish any more.

Chinese chemicals in seafood - the casual Australian response ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Seafood rejected by US deemed OK for Aussies

4 July 2007

The Chinese fish the Americans reject may end up on Australian plates, despite the Federal Government calling for better monitoring of farmed seafood from China.

The US Food and Drug Administration has imposed rigorous testing on Chinese farm-raised seafood - including prawns, basa and eel - after finding that produce tested between October last year and May this year was repeatedly contaminated with banned antibiotics.

Last week, the US regulator ruling that each shipment from China must be tested at the border by suppliers to prove it was antibiotic-free.

But Australia will not alter its "low risk" classification for Chinese farmed prawns, which means only 5 per cent of shipments will be tested.

It is understood that nitrofurans, malachite green and fluoroquinolones have been repeatedly detected by the US regulator in shipments of Chinese seafood over the past eight months. But only one of those banned antibiotics - nitrofuran - is being tested at the border by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service - in one in 20 randomly selected shipments.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, said yesterday that Food Standards Australia New Zealand saw the problem "as a compliance issue and not a health issue".

But he said Australian quarantine would nevertheless step up its monitoring of imported farmed seafood by testing for a wider range of chemical residues.

A quarantine spokesman said Australia was waiting for more information from the US to determine if the levels found in Chinese seafood rejected represented health risks.

"On that basis, it will be decided whether our current system needs to be changed."

China is the largest producer of farmed seafood in the world.

See - China exporting residual chemicals.