BG Group seeks control of Origin Energy and its coal seam gas supplies ...

British company BG Group (formerly British Gas) has expressed an intention to take over Origin Energy, the company that bought some of the privatised Qld government power assets.

See - Origin Energy press release.

Origin Energy has vast reserves of coal seam gas and the accompanying coal seam gas water and is building the Spring Gully power station and the Darling Downs power station.

BG Group recently agreed a deal with Qld Gas Company to build a LNG plant at Gladstone which is expected to dramatically increase the demand for coal seam gas and increase the amount of coal seam gas water available for other uses.

Queensland - beautiful one day, more coal seam gas water than it knows what to do with the next ...

Qld Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Bill ...

Excerpt from Ministerial Media Statement:

28 April 2008

BILLS FOR INTRODUCTION IN PARLIAMENT THIS WEEK

For Parliamentary Week beginning Tuesday 29 April 2008
...

Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Bill, Minister for Natural Resources and Water.

The Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Bill creates new statewide regulatory frameworks for drinking water and recycled water, including purified recycled water.

While Queensland Health will set water quality standards, the Department of Natural Resources and Water’s Office of the Water Supply Regulator will regulate compliance with these standards. Providers of recycled water and drinking water will be required to have in place approved water quality management plans.

The Bill also will formalise the adoption of national guidelines that already are used across much of Queensland.

See - Bills for Introduction into Parliament this Week.

Bligh's Chief of Staff Kaiser drawn into Iemma's power privatisation fiasco ...

See - Daily Telegraph - Iemma told unions he would not privatise power sector.

Oakey - coldest April day since records commenced ...

See - The Chronicle - Coldest April day has Oakey shaking.

Also see - The Australian - Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh.

Australian Water Summit 2008 - financial boffins do the talking on recycled water ...

It's quite interesting to see who the Qld Government has sent to give the talk about recycled water at the Australian Water Summit.

You would think a discussion on recycled water might involve some scientist or water specialist.

No - they've sent an accountant.

Excerpt from Australian Water Summit brochure:

29 April 2008

2.30 Case study Western Corridor Recycling Project update

• Building advanced water treatment plants
• Delivering the benefits of recycled water to power stations
• Supplying recycled water through the Wivenhoe Dam as one substitute for drinking water
• Improving the health of waterways and Moreton Bay

Sam Romano, Chief Financial Officer, Western Corridor Recycled Water (Qld)

South East Queensland’s $2.4 billion Western Corridor Recycling Project is the largest such scheme in the southern hemisphere. When fully operational, this project will transform water management in South East Queensland.

See - Australian Water Summit - Accountant gives views on recycled water.

Surely recycled water isn't just a money-making exercise.

Would anyone really believe an accountant telling you that supplying recycled water through the Wivenhoe Dam as one substitute for drinking water was good for you?

Even the Toowoomba City Council never dragged the accountants into their failed marketing pitch ...

QWC to SEQ - you must be stupid, stupid, stupid ...

Sounding like an excerpt from a John Grisham novel, Qld Government entity and QWC offshoot, Western Corridor Recycled Water, is whining to the Gold Coast Sun that it is misleading when it refers to 'treated wastewater' as 'sewage'.

People must be stupid, stupid, stupid.

It's amazing how far the debate hasn't progressed.

The QWC seems fixated on people using the correct terminology.

What goes into their recycled water plant isn't sewage, it's treated wastewater.

Just remember that.

Like that is suddenly going to change people's aversion to recycled water.

"Oh, it's treated wastewater, not sewage - well that's different."

But don't try to call the output from the recycled water plant 'recycled treated wastewater'.

No, it then suddenly becomes 'purified recycled water'.

The QWC terminology police will fine you if you call it something else.


Excerpt from Letter to the Editor, Gold Coast Sun:

Wastewater, not sewage for recycling in grid

9 April 2008

Your report `Liz poo-poos water expert' on March 26 that `recycled sewage water should only be used if there was nothing else to use' is misleading.

The Western Corridor Recycled Water (WCRW) Project will transport treated wastewater - not sewage - from existing wastewater treatment plants to three new advanced water treatment plants.

It will be purified to the highest standards through microfiltration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation and disinfection to produce purified recycled water that complies with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

The purified recycled water will then be piped to Swanbank and Tarong Power Stations to reduce their demand on SEQ's water supplies, and to Wivenhoe Dam to supplement our drinking water supply.

Our current drinking water supplies are very, very safe and the purified recycled water we produce will be even more pure than the water in Wivenhoe.

WCRW is a remarkable achievement - something that the people of South East Queensland can be proud of.

When completed, it will deliver up to 232 megalitres of purified recycled water a day to the SEQ water grid, providing for the needs of the region's growing population and economy and reducing our reliance on rainfall in a time of drought and climate change.

Keith Davies
Chief Executive Officer
Western Corridor Recycled Water


Perhaps someone should ask Mr Davies what percentage of recycled water Anna Bligh plans to dump into Wivenhoe Dam and pipe to people's homes.

That seems to be something of a State secret at present.

One could also ask if the State government will commit to Parliament House being stocked with bottles of Luggage Point Lager rather than Perrier when Parliament sits.

Everyone knows the answer to that one ...

Bligh shelves pipeline ...

See - The Australian - Bligh shelves pipeline.

Melbourne says no to potable reuse ...

Excerpt from the Age:

Melburnians 'no' to recycled water

25 April 2008

Melburnians are less willing to drink recycled water than residents in other Australian capitals despite being the most concerned about water shortages, research has shown.

The findings come as an increasing number of experts urge the Brumby Government to put the drinking of recycled water back on the agenda.

National Water Commissioner Chloe Munro used a conference in Melbourne this week to renew pressure on the Government to at least investigate the concept. The research surveyed more than 3000 people from Australia's five biggest cities, and found only 12% of Melburnians were "very willing" to drink recycled water.

A further 31% said they were "quite willing", meaning that a majority were still opposed to the idea of drinking water recycled from their bathrooms, toilets and kitchens. The results put acceptance in Melbourne at only half the level of acceptance in Brisbane, where the Queensland Government has already decided to add recycled water to drinking supplies. Only Adelaide showed marginally lower acceptance for drinking recycled water than Melbourne.

After an information brochure about recycled water was presented to those surveyed, 7% of respondents from around Australia changed their response from "not willing", to "quite willing".

Recycled water is touted as a substitute for desalination, which in most cases is a more expensive and energy intensive way of sourcing water. But the study showed 70% of respondents would prefer to drink desalinated ocean water than recycled waste water. The State Government is planning to build a desalination plant near Wonthaggi, but remains firmly opposed to using recycled water for drinking.

The study was conducted by the Co-operative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment, an organisation set up by the Federal Government in 1995, combining the expertise of the CSIRO, governments, universities and water retailers.

Centre deputy chief executive Tony Priestley said most of the community could be persuaded to accept recycled water over time if given proper information. "It doesn't change the hardliners, you've always got that core element of 20 or 25% of the population who just won't change at all," Professor Priestley said.

The study found Melburnians were more concerned about water shortages than health services, climate change, drugs, public transport, terrorism and air pollution.

The Brumby Government will decide this year how best to use the 100 billion litres of Class A recycled water to be produced by the Eastern Treatment Plant when an upgrade is completed in 2012.

See - Melbourne says no to potable reuse.

Also see - Melbourne hits water recycling targets without potable reuse.

Labor kills off second Range crossing ...

See - WIN News - Range Crossing - Labor has other priorities.

Google puts kybosh on Ecocho.com.au so-called 'eco' search engine ...

See - Sydney Morning Herald - Google puts kybosh on 'eco' search engine.

Anna Bligh's secret $100,000 pay rise for her Chief of Staff ...

See - Courier Mail - Anna Bligh approved $100,000 pay hike for Mike Kaiser's role.

Sydney's 77 year rain record ...

See - Sydney Morning Herald - First drought, now 77-year rain record.

Kev and Cate's 2020 show - good ideas lost in the translation ...

See - Sydney Morning Herald - Festival of Kevin - Good ideas lost in the translation.

Also see - KRudd's plan to reduce grocery prices flops.

Toowoomba Regional Council - coal seam gas water opportunity ...

Which road to take ...

4350water blog - citation for academic works ...

There is increasing interest in the 4350water blog from academic sources.

It is appropriate to source reference the 4350water blog as "4350water blog (2005-2008)" and use the url - http://4350water.blogspot.com/.

Please note the 4350water blog copyright notice - here.

Waste water from gas fields could bail out Toowoomba ...

Premier Anna Bligh: "If the water can be treated effectively and then transported efficiently I would like to get this as drinking water to regional towns and Toowoomba."

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

Waste water from gas fields could bail out Toowoomba

22 April 2008

Waste water from coal-seam gas fields in the Surat Basin is again being touted as a solution to Toowoomba's water woes.

While the Garden City's dams sunk to 12% of capacity yesterday, Queensland Gas Company (QGC) drew 20 megalitres out of the ground near Chinchilla.

In five years time, QGC's managing director Richard Cottee said it could be as much as 110 megalitres daily the same amount of water produced by the $1.1 billion desalination plant being built at Tugun on the Gold Coast.

Engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff explained underground gas was buried by water and pressure and that the water must be released in order to get gas flowing.

"We are a gas producer," Mr Cottee said. "The water will be our waste product. It's ridiculous, isn't it in the driest continent on Earth, water will be waste."

In November, 2005, Mr Cottee visited Toowoomba, but canned his drought-proofing idea due to its expense.

"Back in 2006, the water was not being produced in sufficient volumes, but it is a different story now and as we move towards full production for our liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. We will be producing more than 110 megalitres a day and probably significantly more for several decades so with such enormous volumes of water the pipeline and delivery costs are relatively easy to justify," Mr Cottee said.

Mr Cottee estimated a waste water pipeline to Toowoomba would cost around $300 million, even without QGC desiring to profit from the water.

"Water is not where our profits will be made," Mr Cottee said.

"We want to see some beneficial use of our water, and we would want to have some cost recovery."

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh yesterday said: "If there is one thing we have learnt in the last few years it is that water is precious. It is liquid gold and we cannot waste any of it.

"But we need to be sure that issues with the appropriate use for the water are worked through. If the water can be treated effectively and then transported efficiently I would like to get this as drinking water to regional towns and Toowoomba," Ms Bligh said.

See - Waste water from gas fields could bail out Toowoomba.

Toowoomba Regional Council - legacy or lunacy ...

Premier Anna Bligh has set the tone:

"If the [coal seam gas] water can be treated effectively and then transported efficiently, I would like to get this as drinking water to regional towns and Toowoomba."

New Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Peter Taylor thinks it might just be all a bit too hard:

"There are some significant costs in reducing the salt from the water and of course the disposal of that salt, and transporting that water over long distances to get it to any town, are expensive."

Many will remember the efforts of senior staff within the Toowoomba City Council who stated at public meetings that coal seam gas water was poisonous. It was part of their 'do anything, say anything' approach to force people in Toowoomba to drink recycled water.

It didn't work.

And how embarrassed were they when the State and Federal governments granted Dalby funding to use coal seam gas water for its town water supply?

The Toowoomba Regional Council will discuss water source issues this week.

The new Council has a choice - create a lasting legacy as the Council which took the steps to drought-proof the region OR become simply another Council that has had the wool pulled over its eyes by the bureaucrats who will stop at nothing to introduce potable reuse to Toowoomba.

The choice is yours ...

Clough and partners selected for Cressbrook water pipeline project ...

See - 10 March 2008 - Clough and partners selected for Water Pipeline Project in Queensland.

Kev and Cate's 2020 Summit Interim Report - recycled water gets no mention ...

Obviously potable reuse is not a priority of the 1000 delegates in Canberra.

See - Kev and Cate's Interim Report.

Dalby and Arrow Enegy - sustainable water use ...

An excerpt from 2007 Arrow Energy Annual Report:

Dalby drought relief

Arrow has played an important part in the development of a new reverse osmosis plant at Dalby to treat coal seam gas water from our nearby gas fields.

The Federal and State Governments have joined with Dalby Town Council and Arrow to fund the $10 million plus project which will supply up to five megalitres per day for household, agricultural and industrial use.

Over 1,387 Olympic swimming pools of water will be processed each year, providing drought relief to Dalby.

The project will spell the local upper aquifer and allow it to recharge.

In the meantime, the water is currently being put to good use in coal washing, cattle feedlots and even a trial saltwater fish farm.

In fact, 15,000 fingerlings have been successfully raised over the past six months by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in coal seam gas water at Bribie Island.

The fingerlings, which predominantly comprise Mulloway, Barramundi and Mangrove Jack species, are due to be transplanted back to Arrow’s Kogan North evaporation pond before the end of calendar 2007 where the trial will continue.

See - Arrow Energy 2007 Annual Report.

Coal seam gas water - liquid gold ...

Premier Bligh: "If the [coal seam gas] water can be treated effectively and then transported efficiently, I would like to get this as drinking water to regional towns and Toowoomba."

How long has the NO campaign been saying that coal seam gas water is a viable alternative?

The Toowoomba City Council told us that drinking it would poison us. (For some reason a RO plant could clean the sh*t out of sewage water but not clean the salinity out of gas water!)

Now Anna Bligh seems to be accepting it as a water source option for Toowoomba.

Excerpt from Sunday Mail:

Water source is liquid gold

20 April 2008

A water source has been discovered that could supply parched parts of Queensland with billions of litres every year for decades.

The coal-seam gasfields being developed by the Queensland Gas Company in the Surat Basin near Condamine will produce enough water to meet nearly a quarter of Brisbane's annual needs for at least 30 years, the company's experts say.

For Queensland Gas, the water is a "waste product" that has to be removed to stimulate the gas flow.

But to a state hit by prolonged drought and facing increasing threats from climate change, it's liquid gold.

"Sometimes it's important to lift your eyes and look at the bleeding obvious," said Queensland Gas managing director Richard Cottee.

Billions of litres could be used to supply Toowoomba and rural communities west of the city – or piped to Wivenhoe Dam.

With only a tenth the salinity of seawater – "it's just brackish to taste" Mr Cottee said – the coal-seam water could be brought to drinking standard through filtration by reverse osmosis or other methods.

The company has already signed a deal with the former Miles Shire Council to supply the town with all its potable water for free. The council will build an 8km pipeline.

It was only in February that the full scale of the reserves was realised.

Once the gasfields hit full production, in about seven or eight years, a massive 100 to 125 megalitres of water a day will be pumped out – the same amount that will be produced by the $1.1 billion desalination plant being built at Tugun on the Gold Coast.

While Queensland Gas would own the water, Mr Cottee said the focus would be on recovering the costs of getting the water to where it was needed rather than exploiting it as a revenue stream.

"We are a gas producer," he said. "The water will be our waste product. It's ridiculous isn't it – in the driest continent on earth, water will be waste. It's too precious to waste."

Mr Cottee has spoken with Premier Anna Bligh about the potential.

One idea is to construct a water pipeline alongside the Roma to Brisbane gas pipeline.

This could supply Toowoomba and a string of drought-hit towns including Miles, Chinchilla, Dalby and Oakey.

The company estimates the cost of a 180km pipeline from the gasfields to the Garden City would be about $300 million.

But it would eliminate the need for the Government to go ahead with a planned $200 million pipe, which would pump scarce water the other way from Wivenhoe up the Great Dividing Range to Toowoomba.

Premier Bligh said: "If the water can be treated effectively and then transported efficiently, I would like to get this as drinking water to regional towns and Toowoomba.

"But this could also be an excellent source of reliable water for farm irrigation, cattle feedlots and industrial uses such as power stations."

Ray Brown, mayor of the Dalby Regional Council, said the water supply "would be a huge benefit for our region" boosting agriculture, mining and other development.

"I'm very excited. Everyone out here is on the edge of their seats at the moment.

"We've been in drought for so long and people have been down, but now everyone has a spring in their step."

Another option – particularly once a second field for Queensland Gas becomes operational, doubling the amount of water produced – could be to extend the pipeline to feed Wivenhoe Dam to help meet the needs of the southeast. The lower-quality discharge residue could go to Tarong Power Station.

The water, like the gas, is molecularly held within the coal and has to be extracted to break a pressure seal that releases the gas.

"This is important because it means the water could otherwise not be accessed," said a Queensland Gas spokeswoman.

"It is not in aquifers or groundwater supplies, but structurally bound inside the coals. So removing it will not lower the underground water table."

Up to 30 megalitres of water a day is already being extracted from the coal and stored in massive dams at the gasfields. The company expects that to rise to between 100 and 125 megalitres daily within five years.

See - Sunday Mail - Water source is liquid gold.

Adelaide proceeds with recycling for non-potable use ...

See - Adelaide Now - $34.5 million committed to water recycling at Christies Beach.

Toowoomba takes out top tidy town award ...

See - ABC News - Toowoomba takes out top tidy town award.

Kev and Cate's 2020 show - crackpot idea #28 ...

One idea aired was to strip every Australian of their citizenship and only re-issue it to those people who could prove they were environment-climate friendly.

See - Kev and Cate's 2020 show.

Global temperatures dropping - global warming theory questioned ...

"If you look over the last ten years since the peak in 1998, temperatures have actually been coming down. This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you would expect that given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, that temperatures should be going up."

See - ABC Counterpoint - Climate Change.

Top 40 things Anna Bligh won't tell you ...

See - Courier Mail - Smart one day, secret the next.

Former Premier Beattie - Global warming good for tourism ...

See - Channel 9 News - Global warming good for tourism: Beattie.

Survey results ...

Total hits: 9,480

Total votes: 102

Will Ramia, Alroe, Englart and Schneider be re-elected in 2008?

Yes - everyone loves them - 13% - 13

No - the stink of their recycled water campaign remains - 70% - 71

Maybe - one might slip through but most will go - 18% - 18

Total: 102 responses.

Looks like the Maybe's were right with Smoking Joe Ramia slipping through but relegated to the back bench for the next 4 years ...

Adelaide's desal plant gets major project status ...

See - ABC News - Adel desal's 'major project status'.

Toowoomba Regional Council to be briefed on water issues ...

See - ABC News - New council to be briefed on water issues.

Toowoomba's former Mayor - Tasmania's problem now ...

Photograph courtesy of the former Toowoomba City Council

which printed it courtesy of The Chronicle.

Recycled water project scars bushland ...

See - Brisbane Times - Recycled water project scars bushland.

Dalby Mayor wants to hasten council name change ...

See - ABC News - Dalby Mayor wants to hasten council name change.

Recycled water industry benefits from controversial nude photo donation row ...

See - Swiss research institute benefits from photo auction proceeds.

Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election - candidate Antonio sends mixed messages ...

From the campaign trail - worth revisiting ...

Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election - candidate Antonio sends mixed messages ...

22 February 2008

Councillor candidate and current Millmerran Mayor Paul Antonio hasn't been doing his homework.

As a result, he's sending mixed messages to the voters.

He states that he see "waste water as a tremendous community asset. We need to be looking at ways of preserving what we have, for example, through capturing more of our storm water, and grey water, and recycling it for non-drinking purposes."

See - Antonio won't force you to drink recycled water.

So, he's not in favour of using recycled water for drinking.

But then he says:

"Premier Anna Bligh’s announcement of the pipeline to Toowoomba is a welcome first step in ending the city’s water supply crisis."

See - But he seems happy if Anna Bligh does.

Anna's plan involves pumping recycled water (if she can find some) into Wivenhoe and pumping the mix to Toowoomba.

So which is it - is he in favour of people drinking recycled water or not?

At least he's clear on his own interest:

"Through a family trust, Paul owns a 10% share in a waste management company, GBG Management Pty Ltd, which uses technology developed by CQU to treat waste water, with fully organic processes. The company has grown rapidly and is currently expanding internationally."

Clear as mud - or sewage ...

Antonio gets Deputy Mayor spot ...

See - The Chronicle - Antonio becomes Deputy Mayor.

No surprises there ...

Respected academic questions global warming quasi-religion ...

"Counter measures such as carbon trading ... likely to be unnecessary, expensive and futile without stronger evidence of a crisis."

"Attempts to set carbon-use levels in Europe, to be emulated by Australia, have been laughable because of absurd errors involved in allocating quotas and the potential for fraud."

"Democratic governments facing elections are sensitive to popular movements that could have an electoral effect. I am sure that it was this electoral perception that caused the Howard government at the end to move significantly towards Kyoto and indicate a preparedness to go down the Kyoto path, as indeed the Labor Party had done earlier, and Kevin Rudd did as soon as he was elected."

See - Academic cool on warming.

Toowoomba Regional Council sworn in ...

Smoking Joe Ramia says "I'd love to be Deputy".

See - The Chronicle - Councillors sworn in.

Global warming solved by cancelling climate change talks ...

See - EcoWorldly - Swiss send 1,000 delegates to latest talks.

San Diego - people shouldn't drink recycled water so developers can build more homes ...

See - Voices of San Deigo - Few Fireworks in First Mayoral Debate.

Residents start waste water re-use scheme ...

See - ABC News - Residents start waste water re-use scheme.

Doctors issue climate change health warning ...

See - ABC News - Doctors issue climate change health warning.