Anna's recycled water plan for Toowoomba - why your vote on 15 March counts more than ever ...

Vote in the wrong people on 15 March and Anna Bligh will steamroll her way though on this issue.

It's the outgoing Mayor's final revenge on the city.

Do the people of Toowoomba and the surrounding region want to drink Brisbane's recycled water?

Excerpt from the Courier Mail (annotated):

Toowoomba plan to tap into recycled water from Brisbane

27 January 2008

Toowoomba residents who voted against the use of local recycled water will end up drinking Brisbane's by the end of next year.

While more than 70 per cent of the state has been hit by floods, the Darling Downs city's dams are drying up.

They are now below 11 per cent and, without inflows, residents in Queensland's largest inland city are hoping bores will keep them going.

But even if the five to be drilled and equipped by the end of this year come on stream, authorities fear the city could run out of water. [That statement is COMPLETE rubbish.]

"Toowoomba's water supply situation is critical, with some indications the current supply sources will be exhausted by early 2009," Premier Anna Bligh said. [Once again, the fear campaign that Toowoomba will run out of water - remember Toowoomba was going to run out of water by Christmas 2005!]

Her Government had planned by 2012 to supplement Toowoomba with water drawn from Brisbane's Wivenhoe Dam and pumped 45km to Cressbrook Dam, one of the three the city relies on.

But the situation has prompted the Government to accelerate work on the Wivenhoe to Cressbrook pipeline.

"The Garden City's situation is no better following rains and we must now speed up our pipeline plan, so we are committing $20 million to accelerate its design," Ms Bligh said.

A preliminary business case, which Toowoomba City Council helped prepare, had identified the Wivenhoe-Cressbrook link as the preferred option. [Anna's proposal to build a pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam to Cressbrook Dam is completely contrary to the recommendations of the Interim Report of the Toowoomba Water Supply Task Force (they suggested a pipeline to Perseverance Dam).]

Supply options have been considered since 2006, when Toowoomba residents rejected [the outgoing Mayor's] plan to recycle water.

However, Wivenhoe will be supplied with Brisbane's recycled water when the pipeline, known as the western corridor, is completed. [That's if Anna can find enough recycled water to put into the dam.]
...

See - Anna's plans for Toowoomba - why your vote counts.

So much for trying to keep the issue of recycled water off the list of election issues ...