Ex-CH2M Hill Ian Law gets it wrong on Wetalla upgrade and Dalby ...

Interesting issues paper (Indirect Potable Reuse - Post Toowoomba - September 2006) which was tabled for review by the ACT's Expert Panel on Health.

Pity it's so wrong in relation to the Wetalla upgrade and Dalby.

An excerpt (annotated):

Like many in the water industry, I too was disappointed with the result in the 29 July referendum in Toowoomba.

We all saw blatant misinformation and emotive language scuttle the initiative [it is true that blatant misinformation from the Council helped scuttle the ill-fated project; there was emotive language from both sides] but we also saw a Mayor with the courage to promote Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) as a viable means of securing the future for Toowoomba [unfortunately the project as proposed was never viable and the outgoing Mayor has run off to Tasmania]; leadership that is not generally evident in our industry and it was very refreshing.

Yes, the vote shows that the community did not support the plan but what many forget is that the plans included a detailed five year testing and education program [the outgoing Mayor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to agree to that - also note: there is to be NO testing period for Brisbane - if Anna can actually get enough sewage to put into the system] – all of which came to nought when the then newly appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister with responsibility for water policy linked National Water Initiative funding to a referendum – and making this decision at that stage showed him to be totally unaware of the potentially emotive issues embodied in the Waterfutures Plan. [Better not letting the people have a say - just jam it down their throats instead. It is arguable that Minister Turnbull's visit to Toowoomba actually increased the NO vote.]

As an aside, the result of the ‘no’ vote is that secondary effluent from the Toowoomba Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) will continue to discharge into Gowrie Creek [ignores the Wetalla upgrade which was well underway at the time of the referendum] and be part of the water supply for downstream Dalby, for which I am sure the good folk in Dalby are grateful.
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Mr Law must have missed the NWC funding approval for Dalby's coal seam gas water project so here's the link - NWC funding - Dalby gas water project.

It's odd that he missed the Wetalla upgrade given that CH2M Hill is one of the partners on that project.

One phrase rings true though:

"... we must now have the leaders who are prepared to enter into active partnerships with the general community and ensure that all options for future sustainable water supplies are carefully canvassed and considered."

No-one would argue that the Toowoomba City Council entered into an 'active partnership' with the community on the Water Futures project.

What people in Toowoomba remember (and will remember next March) is an outgoing Mayor who refused to discuss the issue with people in Toowoomba but happily jetted off to conferences around Australia (generally at ratepayers' expense) to talk about her plans for Toowoomba.

They remember an outgoing Deputy Mayor whose version of an active partnership with the community was to threaten to drop rocks on citizens who dared to speak out against the Water Futures project.

They remember closed door Council meetings and the difficulties in wrestling the Water Futures NWC funding application off the Council.

They remember a project which would never have worked as Council proposed and could never have been built for the amount they proposed.

They remember a Council which ensured that all options for future sustainable water supplies were NOT carefully canvassed and considered.

They remember the supposed scaremongering about the Mayor moving to Tasmania to run a pub turning out to be true.

That's what they remember.

Read the paper here - Ian Law - Toowomba, Dalby and other things.

Why is that people wishing to speak on the issue of the Toowoomba referendum get such basic issues wrong ...