The 4350water Blog highlights some of the issues relating to proposals for potable reuse in Toowoomba and South East Qld. 4350water blog looks at related political issues as well.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Why the blogs worry the government ...

If the amount of time that the Toowoomba City Council and the State government spend reading the blogs is any indication, then they are indeed concerned about this form of media and its ability to reach readers and offer a different view to the government authorised PR spin served up through the main stream media.

If they're trying to shut the blogs down and yet can't stop reading them themselves, the blogs must be doing something right ...

Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election - roll closing ...

Close of Roll - 5.00 PM Thursday 31 January 2008 (s.277 of the Local Government Act 1993)

See - Qld Electoral Commission website.

If you're not on the roll by close of business today, you won't get to have your say on 15 March.

Next deadline - Notice of Election - Saturday 2 February 2008.

Ex-Beattie Minister Nuttall trial - all the mystery of a good thriller ...

Anonymous letters, tip-offs, present and former Premiers giving evidence.

See - Courier Mail - Talbot warning about CMC inquiry, court told.

One of the better sideshows in Brisbane at the moment ...

Toowoomba Regional Council - Mayoral candidate Manners on water options ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

30 January 2008

...
A referendum of Toowoomba residents in 2006 rejected a proposal for water recycling, and opponents are now angry that a mix including recycled water will be pumped up the range from Wivenhoe dam.

Ms Bligh says all other options were investigated by a group set up after the referendum, and with Toowoomba's dams at less than 11 per cent it is time to act.

"No recycled water" campaigner and mayoral hopeful Snow Manners says the new Toowoomba Regional Council will seek an urgent meeting with Ms Bligh over the decision.

Councillor Manners says he does not accept that it is too late to explore other options.


See - ABC News - Cr Manners on water options.

Brisbane's dams to hit 28 per cent ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

31 January 2008

South-east Queensland's three main dams are expected to reach a combined capacity of 28 per cent by the weekend.


See - Dams to hit 28 per cent.


Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council mayoralty race - who will Ramia, Alroe, Englart and Schneider vote for ...

It's not too hard to guess.

Probably easier to guess who it's not.

Do you really want to vote for someone that Crs Ramia, Alroe, Englart and Schneider think is the best person to be Mayor?

Do you really trust their judgement after their games of the past 4 years?

Imagine if Crs Ramia, Alroe, Englart and Schneider were re-elected (seems unlikely) with their choice for Mayor.

That would create a 5 pack who would only need one more vote to control the Toowoomba Regional Council.

Do voters really want the same for the next 4 years ...

Queenslanders urged to have say on FOI ...

Read the Discussion Paper here - FOI review discussion paper.

QWC head Nosworthy cuts 600 Commander jobs ...

Chairperson Nosworthy wields the axe ...

Excerpt from The Australian:

Commander to cut 600 jobs

30 January 2008

Commander Communications cut its earnings forecast today and said it plans to cut 600 staff, resulting in annualised cost savings of around $65 million.

Commander said it will reduce its workforce to 1,400 from 2,000 and the cash cost of the reduction will be about $17 million.


See - Commander to cut 600 jobs.

Recycled water - don't poo-poo it until you try it ...

As thoughts turn to asking people in Toowoomba to drink Brisbane's recycled water, it's worth having a look back at the article that stirred so much controversy.

THAT article from the Courier Mail ...

Courier Mail

25 March 2006

Don't poo-poo it until you try it

CHEERS, Toowoomba. Or Poowoomba, which I believe it will soon be officially called.

I think that works.

The emphasis is on the Woo part as opposed to the Poo, I don’t think I need tell you that, but obviously by the time a city makes the decision to drink from the public trough, it has let go of any vanity about its name.

But I’m not here today to make fun of Poowoomba, no I’m not. I want to let the people of Poowoomba know that. And I want to reassure them that recycled water will NEVER be used on Queens Park and bottled Evian will continue to be shipped in as usual.

I’m not sure if the mayor of Poowoomba has Googled the words “recycled drinking water” on the internet at all? There is quite a bit of information there, mostly warnings about what to do if you accidentally drink recycled water. I’m no lawyer, but the word accidentally caught my eye.

There are also warnings about not letting your dog drink it either, but I think that’s just common sense.

It’s a tough sell, I thought as I watched the effluential mayor of Poowoomba Dianne Thorley, dressed in a drinking-water brown suit and truckers cap with HMAS Poowoomba written on it, on national television this week.

That’ll be a big fat contract, whoever gets to market this drinking-water sandwich to the ratepayers. Lots of room for some creative sloganeering though, wouldn’t you say? And I tell you what, if I was the mayor of Poowoomba I’d be signing Dr Karl Kruszelnicki up immediately. I’ve heard him speak fondly of faeces on more than one occasion over the years.

The council has a feisty opposition in the Citizens Against Drinking Sewage. And since they put it that way, I’m right there with them. I’d also be supportive of Citizens Against Eating Vomit, or Citizens Against Life Ruining Cyclones, should those lobby groups want to get in touch anytime.

But CADS members should feel safe knowing that the Poowoomba council will be putting in a very, very stringent filtering system.

For instance, Poowoomba residents will be drinking only their own waste and not, say, the leftovers from the people of Ipswich. And in the unlikely event there should ever be any shortfall, drinking water can be trucked in from Brisbane’s leafy western suburbs just down the road, where there is a high percentage of lawyers, doctors and private school children, your AB quintile, and apparently that’s where you find the high quality drinking water that doesn’t stink.

And then of course there is the membrane science that’s involved in this reverse Midas process. It’s a bit of rigmarole, and I’m not totally across it just yet, but nobody who lives in Poowoomba should be concerned by the use of the word membrane, which seems to suggest a very thin buffer.

I’m sure by the time that sewage is in your crystal jug it’ll be fine. They pour peroxide on it somewhere along the way, and you know how that cleans your bathroom. You’ll be right.

I mean, look, have you ever heard of a scientist getting anything wrong?

The only thing you might have to do is watch what you eat a bit more closely than before. You can probably expect some sort of legislation governing the consumption of certain foods, and possibly a roster system for when you can have a curry night. Even numbered houses will be Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. No meat to be eaten Mondays. Something like that, Cr Thorley is still to iron those details out.

So to recap: the water we wash our clothes in isn’t safe to use on the garden, but it’s totally fine for people in Toowoomba to drink sewage.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election - the first endorsement ...

Excerpt from WIN News:

Water Taskforce

29 January 2008

Clive backs Snow

Clive Berghofer has today confirmed he's backing Toowoomba City councillor Snow Manners' campaign to become the first mayor of the Regional Council.

It comes in the wake of the state government's decision to fast-track Toowoomba's connection to the South East Water Grid.


See - Clive backs Manners.

Not too surprising given Ian Jones sounds like a clone of the outgoing Mayor and Peter Taylor will be too busy pulling out splinters from his fence sitting on the issue ...

Toowoomba Regional Council election - water a key issue ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mial (annotated):

Water on Toowoomba's election agenda

28 January 2008

Toowoomba residents opposed to drinking recycled water plan to turn the matter into a major issue in the March local government elections.

They are incensed that the State Government plans to link their water supply to Wivenhoe Dam, which will hold recycled water from Brisbane.

Two years ago Toowoomba voted in a referendum to defeat its council's plan to recycle local water to drought proof the city, where water is now critically low.

Faced with the prospect of the largest inland city running out of water early next year, the Bligh Government has accelerated plans for the pipeline, which should be built by the end of 2009.

It will cost about $200 million compared with $70 million for Toowoomba to recycle its own water. Running costs to lift the water more than 600m up to the Downs city also will impact further on ratepayers.
[Everyone knows that the Toowoomba white elephant would never have cost $70 million.]

Anti-recycler [Rosemary] Morley said she could not believe the state had stepped in.

"As a community we have said no to drinking recycled water but apparently the voice of the people counts for nothing," she said. "Is recycled water from the Brisbane sewers different to that of Toowoomba?

"Why can't the Government spend the money to bring good clean water to our dams from Norwin and Chinchilla.

"Both these options were put forward to the council which, in its so called wisdom, dismissed the idea.

"This outgoing council has a lot to answer to. Like the State Government it does not listen to the people. This decision to pipe water will certainly put the recycled water debate back on the agenda for the upcoming local government election."

Toowoomba
[outgoing] mayor said: "During the referendum I told the community that if we did not move ourselves we would be taking recycled water from Wivenhoe but people said this would never happen. [Actually she never said this during the Poll campaign because Beattie had not mentioned putting recycled water into Wivenhoe - he was waiting for the outcome of the Poll. Another attempt to rewrite history.]

"Now we are up for nearly triple the cost, our revenue earning capacity from selling excess water to a mining company is in doubt and we will probably lose control of our infrastructure as other south-east councils have." [The outgoing Mayor has no basis whatsoever for stating costs will triple. Like most things over the past 4 years, she's just making it up to put fear into the community.]

See - Courier Mail - water on the agenda.

Former Premier Beattie gives evidence at ex-Minister Nuttall's corruption hearing ...

See - Courier Mail - Nuttall corruption hearing.

Meanwhile the University of South Carolina is to give him a honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

See - Beattie gets Doctorate for doctoring laws.

Qld's sister state is being kind to him ...

Monday, January 28, 2008


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 ...

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Why Ramia, Alroe, Englart and Schneider should tell the outgoing Mayor to go - now ...

What an amazing day!

An attempt to eliminate water as an election issue at the Toowoomba Regional Council election backfires spectacularly for Anna Bligh and the outgoing Mayor.

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).

So her announcement is exposed for the pre-election political stunt it is.

Mayoral candidate Manners and Councillor candidate Morley get prominent free publicity on the issue in today's Chronicle so everyone in the region knows exactly where they stand.

No other candidate (unless you include outgoing Deputy Mayor Ramia's brief illogical comments) gets any press coverage on the issue.

And water remains the central issue of the Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election.

You couldn't have arrange this better if the outgoing Mayor had been campaign manager for Manners and Morley.

Her rage and emotional outbursts on Council letterhead are just helping to make the remaining four Water Futures supporting Councillors become unemployed on 15 March ...

Outgoing Mayor endorses her Mayoral candidate ...

Although his choice of campaign manager pretty much gives it away, see if you can spot the outgoing Mayor's preferred candidate for Mayor at the Toowoomba Regional Council 2008 election:

"... I suppose it will be the legacy of Clive Berghofer, Snow Manners, Rosemary Morley, Peter Taylor and Ian Orford it will be their legacy now ..."

Outgoing Mayor
The Chronicle
26 January 2008


Who's missing ...

Outgoing Mayor uses Bligh press release to express rage ...

... at 32,330 NO voters.

The Poll was held on 29 July 2006 and the outgoing Mayor's blind white rage still burns.

See - Water Futures blog - outgoing Mayor press release.

Those 32,330 voters cost her everything and she will now get to spend her days in the back blocks of Tasmania.

It's going to be a far cry from what she'd hoped for the next few years and what she'd planned.

But it was not to be.

Democracy stood firmly in her way.

That and the fact that her recycled water project was so dodgy it wouldn't have brought $15 on eBay.

So her rage burns on.

Watch her post-Poll reaction here - Outgoing Mayor's post-Poll comments.

Even as they are dragging her out of the Herries Street building next month, she's be screaming 'those damn NO voters'.

On 15 March, voters get to send her a final farewell by burying her recycled water plans once and for all ...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council - the need for change ...



Even the US politicians think so ...

Anna Bligh tries to take recycled water off the Toowoomba Regional Council campaign issue list ...

... and winds up putting it front and centre.

A plan to accelerate the link to Wivenhoe.

Qld Government Press Release:

25 January 2008

BLIGH ACCELERATES TOOWOOMBA WATER PIPELINE

The Bligh Government today committed $20 million to accelerate design and investigations for the development of a near-40km pipeline to ensure water security for Toowoomba.

The Premier Anna Bligh and Member for Toowoomba North, Attorney General Kerry Shine said the proposed Toowoomba pipeline - linking with the South East Queensland Water Grid - is now expected to be complete by late (DEC) 2009.

“The original plan was for this to happen in 2012, after we hope to have Traveston Crossing Dam Stage 1 on line, but the Garden City’s situation is no better and we must now accelerate our plan,” said Ms Bligh.

They said that following the completion of a preliminary business case, which included involvement by the Toowoomba City Council, a pipeline from Lake Wivenhoe to Lake Cressbrook is the preferred option.

“Toowoomba’s water supply situation is critical with some indications the current supply sources will be exhausted by early 2009,” said the Premier.

“Current dam levels are about 11 per cent and Toowoomba is currently on Level 5 restrictions.

“Toowoomba currently relies on is water supply from a mixture of surface water from three dams Perseverance, Cooby and Cressbrook that supply 85 per cent of demand and groundwater from bores into the Toowoomba basalt aquifer supply the remainder.

“Since 2006, the Toowoomba Water Futures Taskforce consisting of State Government, Toowoomba City Council and local community representatives have considered water supply options.”

Ms Bligh said that in the intervening period, before the pipeline’s completion, the search for other ground water supply measures would continue.

Mr Shine said that late last year the State Government announced it would provide $11.8 million for the drilling of bores into the Great Artesian Basin as an emergency measure.

“We have been working with the community and we will continue working collaboratively with the Toowoomba City Council to find the water solution for the Toowoomba region,” he said.

The Government’s new bulk water authority LinkWater will be responsible for the design and investigation of the Toowoomba pipeline project.

Cruise and Clinton - on the campaign trail ...

See - Cruise and Clinton.

Click on Cruise and Clinton - on the campaign trail ...

Toowoomba Regional Council election - Ian Orford campaigns for wrong day ...

It's a small point but, given that Councillor candidate Ian Orford is apparently distributing calendars to all as part of his election campaign strategy, you'd think he'd look at one of them before stating on his website:

The election for the Toowoomba Regional Council will be held on Saturday the 14th March 2008.

See - Orford website - I think the election is on the 14th.

Just a thought ...

Toowoomba City Council - and then there were 4 ...

... sewer sippers left.

The outgoing Mayor is departing shortly to Tasmania.

Cr Regina Albion has now confirmed that she will not seek re-election at the 15 March election.

According to the Chronicle, it's time for "Regina time".

4350water blog wishes her an active retirement ...

Solving global warming - eliminate David Beckham ...

Excerpt from Fox News:

Beckham leaves massive global 'footprint'

24 January 2008

David Beckham is already the world's richest footballer.

He may also be its biggest environmental threat.

According to Soccer America daily, with reference to data provided by the British environmental group Carbon Trust, the Los Angeles Galaxy superstar is responsible for 163 tons of carbon dioxide yearly — compare that to the normal 9.4 tons the average Englishman produces.


Beckham's Carbon Footprint — a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide — may be the largest in human history.

No, Beckham isn't breathing any more or less than anyone else, but his extensive air travel for matches and endorsement obligations, along with his fleet of cars and homes, has provided the statistics for Carbon Trust.
...

At home, Beckham owns a fleet of 15 cars, including a Porsche, a Hummer and a Lincoln Navigator.


See - Beckham must go to save the world.

Toowoomba Regional Council election - what they're saying ...

"Recycling waste water should be re-evaluated given the advances in technology since the Toowoomba referendum."

Source - Jones 4 mayor website.

Advances in technology since July 2006?

Hmm ...

Toowoomba City Council - what they said ...

"Join us in showing your support for Water Futures - Toowoomba, an innovative project which uses viable means of providing Toowoomba with a safe, sustainable water supply."

Cr Dianne Thorley (Mayor), Cr Joe Ramia (Deputy Mayor),
Cr Michelle Schneider, Cr Sue Englart, Cr Regina Albion, Cr Michele Alroe

32,330 voters said NO.

SEQ - rain falls as cloud seeding takes off ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

24 January 2008

Showers have fallen after the first two flights of Queensland's cloud seeding trial.

But scientists have yet to determine whether the precipitation occurred naturally or was caused by the seeding on Wednesday and yesterday.

See - SEQ cloud seeding.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council Election - Rob Berry nominates ...

Could have seen that one coming.

Update - Here's his 2004 Council election website - Vote 1 Rob Berry - presumably needs to change 2004 to 2008 and add some bits about water ...

Cr Alroe says she listens to residents' views ...

In politics, you get used to politicians from all walks of life rewriting history.

So it's no surprise that Councillor candidate Michele Alroe fails to mention the term 'recycled water' once on her election website.

The following statement is interesting though:

"I have proven over the last eight years that I am a hardworking, competent and approachable Councillor prepared to listen to residents' views."

See - Michele Alroe - I listen to the people of Toowoomba.

Seems she doesn't count the 32,330 people in Toowoomba who vote NO.

Perhaps a more appropriate statement would be:

I am prepared to listen to and then completely ignore residents' views.

Sounds about right ...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Why do you visit 4350water blog ...

Update on sidebar poll:

Why do you visit 4350water blog?

I need to know what the TCC is doing to us - 11% - 11

It provides the other side of the water debate - 15% - 14

It gives me an insider's view of the Council - 23% - 22

It's outrageous but I have to read it - 7% - 7

I'll read anything that exposes Beattie and Bligh - 18% - 17

I like the cartoons - 5% - 5

I want to see what it will say next! - 17% - 16

Other 4% - 4

Total: 96 responses


A new poll has been placed in the sidebar ...

Toowoomba Regional Council - nominees coming thick and fast ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

Nominees hit trail

22 January 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council councillor nominees Anne Glasheen, business owner from Clifton Shire and Julie Michael, lawyer from Crows Nest Shire, have gone "back to school" to prepare for the challenges of the new amalgamated council.

Cr Glasheen has completed a Diploma in Local Government Administration, while Cr Michael completed a Graduate Certificate in Urban and Regional Planning and is halfway through her Masters in planning.

Cr Michael's was awarded a Dean's commendation for high achievement from the university of Queensland for her certificate studies.

The pair will be on the campaign trail together.

end.

This is an interesting voter hook which may well pick up votes - candidates prepared to undertake formal study to assist with being Councillors.

At a minimum, it sets them apart from many of the existing Councillors whose only qualification seems to be the ability to eat large quantities of gourmet sandwiches ...

TRC - Rosalie Shire Mayor tosses hat in the Councillor ring ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

Strohfeld to run

22 January 2008

Rosalie Shire mayor Noel Strohfeld says his conscience won't let him leave local government.

He considered retirement but is standing for a councillor's seat on the Toowoomba Regional Council.

"My conscience said that it was good enough to be there for 26 years - the last 11 as mayor."

"I would feel guilty walking away when I was needed the most."

Cr Strohfeld formed campaign and fund raising committees last weekend.

He said he was amazed and humbled because previously he was able to do the job himself.

Former Premier Beattie's right-hand man subject to CMC inquiry ...

See - Courier Mail - Beattie aid investigated.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Coal seam gas water - a drought-proofing solution for Miles ...

Queensland Coal Gas press release:

QGC and the Murilla Shire to drought-proof Miles

22 January 2008

Queensland Gas Company (QGC) and the Murilla Shire Council (the Council) today agreed to a long term arrangement to supply more than half a billion litres of potable water each year to the town of Miles in southern Queensland. The water is produced as part of QGC’s coal seam gas extraction business in the Surat Basin.

Under the landmark water supply agreement, QGC will provide up to 1.5 million litres of purified water each day to the town utilising proven reverse osmosis technology. The deal is for an initial 20-year term and the Council will have an option to extend the agreement for a further 10 years.

For its part, the Council will construct an 8 kilometre pipeline linking QGC’s plant at Condamine Power Station to the Miles water supply network. Pending approvals, construction of the pipeline is scheduled to begin soon, with first water supplies to be delivered to Miles in early 2009.

The water from coal seam gas operations compares favourably with much of the bore water from the Great Artesian Basin, typically containing 1 500 – 4 000 parts per million of total dissolved solids. In 2006, QGC completed a reverse osmosis trial at its Berwyndale South production facility confirming that drinking water can be produced from harvested water.

QGC Managing Director Richard Cottee said the Company was committed to finding beneficial uses for its abundant water supplies, which in the past have all too often been evaporated and effectively lost.

“Queensland’s Surat Basin region has long been a land of extraordinary resources and harsh extremes.

Even if 2008 brings flooding rains, locals and farmers know only too well they could be facing parched fields and water restrictions again within a few seasons Making beneficial use of the harvested water as a result of coal seam gas operations will provide certainty of supply to the Miles residents for at least the next 20 years,” Mr Cottee said.


See - QGC and Murilla Shire drought-proof Miles.

Stanthorpe water restrictions drop to level zero ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

22 January 2008

Water restrictions have dropped to Level 0 across Stanthorpe Shire as the Storm King Dam continues to fill.

Stanthorpe mayor Glen Rogers said current water restrictions had relaxed after recent falls into the dam catchment areas.

"The consistent rain received has finally found its way into Storm King Dam," Cr Rogers said.

"I am pleased to say the dam is now at 100 per cent capacity. The Shire's Drought Management Plan Council is able to reduce water restriction levels to Level 0 in both Stanthorpe and Wallangarra. Watering of private gardens and lawns can now take place on allocated days and new swimming pools and ponds can be filled."

...

See - Stanthorpe - level zero.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Qld Nationals - the resurrection of Lawrence Springborg ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

21 January 2008

Newly re-elected Nationals leader Lawrence Springborg is confident he can lead the party to victory at the next state election.

Mr Springborg seized the state leadership from Jeff Seeney in a party room vote today.

He said he was certain he would be able to defeat Labor at the next election.


See - Springborg resurrected.

While no certainty to take Anna's crown away from her at the next election, the sidelining of Seeney and Flegg will cause the Qld Labor Party to pause and think ...

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Make your own clipart like this @ www.TXT2PIC.com

Toowoomba Regional Council Election - campaign video mayhem ...

One of the problems with the internet age is how quickly information runs across the net.

As an example, put "toowoomba regional election" into google.com.au and look at the results.

You should be able to see that Mayoral candidate Ian Jones campaign videos can now be viewed on strip-girls.net and funny-ads.info.

Perhaps not quite what the campaign intended ...

K Rudd head butts the Labor party machine ...

The push to draft former Labor leader Kim Beazley as Australia's next Governor General:

See - Beazley tipped for GG.

Rebuffed by K Rudd:

See - Rudd rules out ex-pollie for GG.

Should be some interesting Cabinet stoushes ...

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council Election - why your vote counts ...

If you think that potable reuse isn't still on the Council agenda, look at who has been appointed as Acting Director of Water and Wastewater Services for the Toowoomba Regional Council:

Toowoomba Regional Council
Local Transition Committee
Press Release
18 January 2008

Toowoomba Regional Council’s Acting Directors appointed

The Interim CEO of the Toowoomba Regional Council, Phil Spencer, today announced the Acting Directors of the new Toowoomba Regional Council, who were all selected on merit.

“I am extremely pleased that the Toowoomba Regional Council will commence on Monday 17 March with such experienced and talented people at the helm of our organisation.

“The transition process has involved enormous input from staff across the 8 amalgamating Council’s and those appointed as Acting Directors are indicative of the level of commitment of the people within our local government region”.

The Acting Directors are:

Water and Wastewater Services - Kevin Flanagan Toowoomba
Engineering Services Gerard - Brennan Crows Nest
Planning and Development Services - David Heckscher Toowoomba
Environmental and Community Services - Brian Pidgeon Toowoomba
District Services - Ian Stevenson Cambooya
Strategic Services - David McEvoy Crows Nest
Corporate Services - Murray Wright Toowoomba

“The Toowoomba Regional Council’s organisational structure takes into account the size and diversity of our new local government region and the interests of urban and rural communities.” said Mr Spencer.

“This diversity is reflected within our newly appointed Acting Directors with three being drawn from across the District and four from Toowoomba.”

Mr Philip Spencer, Interim CEO - Toowoomba Regional Council

Website: www.toowoombaRC.qld.gov.au


Your vote on 15 March can put in place a Council which will lock Mr Flanagan's potable reuse plans back in his desk drawer ...

QWC gives Gold Coast a wet weekend ...

Excerpt from Brisbane Times:

Water happy Gold Coast granted 'wet weekend'

18 January 2008

Hosing the car, the house and the driveway may be a distant memory for most residents of drought-hit south-east Queensland, but the Gold Coast has been given a reprieve.

Queensland Water Commission chief executive John Bradley has announced a "Wet Weekend" on the Gold Coast, for the weekend of January 26 and 27.

Residents will be able to wash cars, houses and external hard surfaces such as driveways.

The city council will also be allowed to turn beach showers back on, which will remain connected until further notice.

"This is a responsible decision based on analysis showing there will be no impact on the water supply security for south-east Queensland," Mr Bradley said.

"While Hinze Dam is still overflowing this is a chance for people on the Gold Coast to use some of that water outside in a responsible way and wash their cars."

Other areas will continue to observe tough level six water restrictions.

The Gold Coast's last "Wet Weekend" was in 2006 when there were widespread calls for a similar easing in water restrictions in other areas of the south-east.


See - QWC's wet weekend.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Toowoomba City Council - the dying days of desperation and hatred ...

The outgoing Mayor spent yesterday's Council meeting focusing on two issues:

1. Trying to create an air of uncertainly about whether Toowoomba would run out of water.

2. Trying to derail the election campaign of candidate for Councillor Rosemary Morley.

Amazing.

Clearly embittered that her ill-fated recycled water project was scrapped, the outgoing Mayor teamed up with right-hand henchwoman Councillor Sue Englart to use her remaining time on the Toowoomba ratepayers' purse to still try to scare people in Toowoomba that the water is going to run out - desperately hoping that people will vote for the existing Councillors at the election so they can continue to try to implement her white elephant recycled water scheme.

A bizarre form of legacy shopping.

She is also trying her best to prevent Rosemary Morley being elected to the new regional Council, singling her out in a bizarre attack for questioning the Toowoomba City Council's bore program. With one failed bore and a coal mine dug so far and with no forward planning on necessary equipment, it is indeed odd that the outgoing Mayor would try to defend the Council's record on bores. Council's management of its bore program was so hopeless, the State government had to intervene. To single out one candidate for her attack shows how vindictive the outgoing Mayor is.

Meanwhile, Mr Flanagan's only contribution was to say that he spills his beer at the pub. Unbelievable. Thankfully, according to the Chronicle, he then 'quickly evaporated'.

The outgoing Mayor has made her choice - to quit and run off to Tasmania. She should therefore butt out of the election campaign. Her views and her attempts to influence voters are not wanted.

Excerpt from the Chronicle (annotated):

Grilling over bore drilling

17 January 2008

[Toowoomba's outgoing Mayor] warned hostile councillors to drop the emotion and instead focus on the facts to combat ignorance about the drilling of bores into the Great Artesian Basin.

But she warned against forecasting an outcome.

"We cannot sit here now and it would duplicitous and inconceivable to me that we could sit here now and guarantee what water is going to come out of these bores.

"None of us can do it and nobody can do it until it's pump-tested," she said.

That won't occur until suitable pumps are found.

Council's Director of Engineering Kevin Flanagan said that could be between 10 and 26 weeks.

The briefing about the progress of the bores at the Water and Wastewater Committee meeting was overshadowed by the councillors' need to address criticisms by Rosemary Morley in yesterday's The Chronicle.

Mrs Morley queried the delays and the extra $440,000 in costs.

Outraged councillors took exception to her downplaying the significance of the 658-metre drilling by referring to it simplistically as "digging a hole to get water".

[The outgoing Mayor] told councillors: "Regardless of what anyone who is running for politics is going out there to say, I find it's that mad, crazy time where anyone is going out there and saying what they think, and frighten whoever they want and not frighten whoever they want, to get themselves elected.

"We have to remove the emotion out of this, because it is more important than people getting emotional or getting elected."

Cr Sue Englart led the attack, ruling the bores were important to the city. She labelled it "abysmal" that someone with no experience could cast aspersions over the drilling practices.

Cr Regina Albion was concerned the "misleading" comments could be seen as credible.

Cr Snow Manners declared there was a "history" referring to the recycled water for drinking saga where he, Mrs Morley and Clive Berghofer led the successful "No" campaign.

He said he moved in similar circles to Mrs Morley and she was reflecting the feelings of some sectors of an anxious community fearful the city would run out of water.

Cr Manners said it was a public relations exercise for council to assure people "we won't run out of water".

Crs Joe Ramia, Michele Alroe and Keith Beer agreed all facts on the status of the bores, including the failed Wetalla bore which was too salty, needed to be aired with most councillors opting for a paid advertisement.

Mrs Morley said yesterday people should have a democratic right to speak without fear of vilification from council.

Councillors also heard that when work crews returned to the Leahy Road site at Cooby Dam on Monday there was about one week's work before they moved on to the second test bore site at Loveday Cove.

The meeting was supplied with rainfall figures since December 1.

Mr Flanagan cheekily likened the smaller falls of less than 2mm in the first fortnight to "as much as he spilt on a Friday night at the hotel" and quickly evaporated.

"Since 1988 there have been only nine run-off events that put water in the dams," he said.

Up until yesterday, 125.4mm had fallen at Cooby Dam, 175.8mm at Perseverance Dam and 185.2mm at Cressbrook Dam.

The combined useable water in the three storage dams sat at 11.04%.

Mr Flanagan said, without significant rainfall, the dams would be exhausted by the first half of July, 2009.

Cr Michelle Schneider is ill and absent from this week's committee meetings.


See - Toowoomba City Council - you can feel the hatred.

Toowoomba and Regional Council election - a couple of blog comment ground rules ..

If some initial comments are any guide, things may get quite heated as we approach 15 March and the Council election.

A couple of simple blog comment rules:

1. Comments will remain open for the moment but may require accounts during the election period. While open, some form of user name is appreciated - it helps readers to follow comments.

2. 4350water blog reserves the right to edit or delete comments. Anything considered extreme will be edited or deleted.

If you want to post comments about a candidate for Mayor or Councillor which others might find in poor taste, think before you post it. If you think that a particular candidate is having affairs all over the place, you should include a link with your comments - preferably a link to photos which substantiate your comments. Otherwise, it may be edited.

Let's keep it clean and focus on the more substantive issues ...

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Toowoomba City Council revises dam depletion date ...

Remember how Toowoomba was going to run out of water by Christmas 2005?

Didn't happen.

Part of the fear campaign waged by the outgoing Toowoomba City Council to try to coerce its residents into voting in favour of the outgoing Mayor's white elephant recycled water plant.

Fast forward to January 2008 and the Council now tells us there's enough dam water to last until well into 2009.

And that's before looking at GAB water which will provide sufficient water for Toowoomba until the drought breaks.

When you vote on 15 March, think about whether you should vote for anyone who told you that Toowoomba was going to run out of water and the only solution was to drink recycled water ...

Excerpt from WIN News:

Cooby Bore Update:

16 January 2008

Revised date

After yet another dry summer, Toowoomba Council engineers have revised the date the city is expected to run out of dam water, from mid next year, to the first half of next year
. It comes as the viability of the city's emergency supply, a great artesian basin bore at Cooby Dam, should be known by early next month.

See - Toowoomba - sufficient water in the dams.

Jondaryan Mayor courts the rural vote ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Jondaryan Mayor makes bid to lead new council

16 January 2008

Jondaryan Shire Mayor Peter Taylor has entered the contest to be mayor of the new Toowoomba Regional Council in southern Queensland.

Councillor Taylor joins Toowoomba councillor Snow Manners and Clifton Mayor Ian Jones as the three candidates so far to nominate for the March poll.


See - ABC News - Taylor runs.

K Rudd becomes a celebrity news item ...

See - Celebrity Pro - K Rudd and Hugh Jackman.

Orange County recycled water experiment starts ...

Excerpt from the Seattle Times:

Sewage becomes drinking water at Calif. facility

11 January 2008


As a hedge against water shortages and population growth, Orange County, Calif., has begun operating the world's largest, most modern reclamation plant — a facility that can turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day.

The new purification system at the Orange County Water District headquarters cost about $490 million and comprises a labyrinth of pipes, filters, holding tanks and pumps across 20 acres.

Almost four years after construction began, the facility is purifying effluent from a neighboring sewage-treatment plant run by the Orange County Sanitation District, a partner in the venture.

The finished product will be injected into the county's vast groundwater basin to combat saltwater intrusion and supplement drinking-water supplies for 2.3 million people in coastal, central and northern Orange County.

But before that can be done, state health officials must certify that the reclaimed water meets drinking-water standards. Officials expect the approval to be granted before opening ceremonies Jan. 25.

"Our sources from [the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta] and the Colorado River are becoming unavailable," said Michael Markus, general manager of the water district. "This will help drought-proof the region and give us a locally controlled source of water."

Last month, for example, a federal judge ordered a 30 percent reduction in freshwater pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to protect the tiny delta smelt, a threatened species. The region, which is facing myriad environmental problems, is the hub of California's water system.

If the reclamation plant's full potential is realized, officials say, up to 130 million gallons a day could be added to the county's freshwater supply, lessening the region's dependence on outside sources.
...


See - Orange County recycled water plant.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Using recycled water on sporting fields - what's impossible in Toowoomba becomes reality in Melbourne ...

Amazing!

Excerpt from ABC News:

Melb councils use recycled water for sports ovals

15 January 2008

Councils in Melbourne's eastern suburbs are using recycled water to keep public sporting grounds open.

The water is being processed at the Brushy Creek Sewage Treatment plant, at Chirnside Park, east of Melbourne, after a $2.5-million dollar upgrade.

The plant can recycle over 2-million litres of water per day, which is available for use on sporting fields and parks and gardens.

The Victorian Minister for Water, Tim Holding says the recycled water should help councils struggling with current 3-A restrictions.

"This (recycled water) can water something like 112 sport fields across the metropolitan area. This will be a great bonanza for municipalities," he said.

Councils are only allowed to water one in four sporting ovals with drinking water.

Councils have been able to get recycled water from the Werribee Treatment plant but transport costs made it too expensive.

"It means more community organisations will have access to recycled water. More community infrastructure will be kept alive, to be used safely by a whole range of sporting organisations," the Minister said.


See - Recycled water for sports fields.

Outgoing Mayor flees Toowoomba - leaves mess for others to fix ...

Without doubt, the most controversial and divisive Mayor in Toowoomba's history.

She's almost gone.

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

15 January 2008

The view from her Lady Franklin Hotel, in Tasmania, is the wide expanse of water, the Huon River.

A sprinkler recklessly splashed water on the sports oval across the highway between the pub and the river.

It's a long way away from that ugly recycled water vote, Toowoomba's dwindling water supplies, and the political games.


See - Outgoing Mayor soon to be forgotten.

Word on the street is that several of the outgoing Mayor's closest supporters on the Yes campaign were not told she was leaving Toowoomba and had to find out from No voters. They were shocked that she would seek their support for her campaign and then desert them.

For many many people in Toowoomba, the end of the February Council meetings and her final departure from Toowoomba cannot come soon enough ...

Brisbane rainfall could smash records ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Brisbane rainfall could smash records

15 January 2008

Brisbane has already exceeded its average January rainfall in the first two weeks of the month - as north Queensland continues to faces severe floods.
...

Brisbane has already recorded 124mm of rain in January - outstripping the monthly average for the entirety of January of 120mm.

And rain is forecast for the next six days until at least Monday of next week.

With more heavy falls, Brisbane could be on track to pass the highest recent January total of 280mm in 1995.

...

See - Brisbane - the big wet.

Ian Jones campaign withdraws campaign ad ...

4350water blog posting leads to the Ian Jones campaign pulling one of their ads from youtube.com.

See - Ian Jones ad removed from youtube.com.

The embarrassing error in the ad lead to its withdrawal with a new ad appearing.

See - Ian Jones redoes his ad.

They also took the opportunity to tidy up the authorisation required for campaign ads - the previous one was not correct.

The other ad still doesn't comply - you can compare them here:

This ad complies - Complying authorisation.

This ad doesn't - Non-complying authorisation.

The Ian Jones campaign should thank 4350water blog for pointing out their rather amateur mistakes before they receive too much TV coverage.

Wonder whether Ian will be billed for the ad changes? Perhaps he should ask for a refund.

4350water blog thinks Ian Jones faces a uphill battle to convince 60,000+ Toowoomba voters as well as those in shires other than Clifton to vote for someone they've never heard of and someone who doesn't appear to be going to be a fulltime Mayor for the region.

Amateur mistakes in ads just makes that task all the harder.

4350water blog will be reviewing all the candidates' ads so Ian shouldn't feel he is being treated unfairly. He just happens to be the first candidate out of the blocks and onto the airwaves.

As he said "I'm starting early - there's a big job to be done."

The first task might be to take your campaign manager out to the woodshed and whack him with a piece of 4 by 2 ...

Monday, January 14, 2008

Toowoomba and Regional Council election - 60 days to go ...

In 60 days:

the

6

sewer sippers on Council

should be reduced to

0


It's your vote. Make it count ...

K Rudd goes Hollywood ...

Labor voters thought he would be down in Canberra post-election - as he promised - working hard to fulfil the laundry list of 'promises' which got him elected.

No, he's at Kirribiili House in Sydney entertaining Hollywood stars Kidman and Jackman.

Getting distracted from what the voters elected him to do took all of about 5 minutes ...

Excerpt from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Get set for Kevin08, Australia: PM's back, best you look busy

14 January 2008

The non-holiday holiday is officially over today, writes Annabel Crabb.

He's back.

After taking a brief festive break during which he completed his move to Canberra, learned to love cricket and developed a mild man-crush on Hugh Jackman, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, flew back to the national capital last night in readiness for the first official working week of Kevin08.

At this level in public life, the distinction between holidays and work can be difficult to spot.

Thus, Mr Rudd's last day of holidays yesterday was spent not as an ordinary person might spend such a day (lying about morosely wondering if there is anything clean to wear to work), but as Kevin Rudd would spend it - flying to Brisbane for a bracing discussion of economic policy with the Treasury secretary, Ken Henry, and the Treasurer, Wayne Swan.

This is all part and parcel of what government press secretaries, with the manic perkiness of the already overworked, have described as a "working break".

And at the end of this week cabinet ministers will experience a further workplace innovation: the "working weekend".

According to a memorandum they all received a couple of days ago, next Sunday will be spent not in quiet reflection as per the Bible's polite suggestion, but in attendance - albeit non-voluntary - at a community cabinet meeting in Perth.

Kevin08's inbox is groaning with problems not foreseen in the halcyon days of Kevin07.

Take the banks, for example.

Who knew they would turn out to be sneaky sporran-robbers, gouging money from Australian working families? And who knew that one of the first acts of the year of the shadow treasurer, Malcolm Turnbull, would be to accuse Mr Rudd and Mr Swan of being apologists for the banks?

Mr Turnbull's muscular attack on the banks would be remarkable even if he had not himself spent four of the past 10 years as the managing director of Goldman Sachs.

Whales also have turned out to be a problem - the Government has ended up in a wild cetacean chase through Antarctic waters, competing against Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd to find and distract the Japanese whaling fleet.

How has this happened?

Cabinet insiders are eyeing Peter Garrett, whose natural affinity with whales may be attributable to the fact that he too is a giant, somewhat endangered mammal with a gift for eerie, discordant song. On Friday Mr Garrett was flown to Antarctica amid some pomp and ceremony aboard the first passenger flight to the frozen continent.

But he found his way back.

In the coming weeks Mr Rudd must also make headway on the rationalisation of the national health system, and on the drafting of a cut-price apology to the Aboriginal stolen generation.

It is a big ask, but Government lawyers are buoyed by Mr Rudd's record; his last-known formal apology, delivered to his wife, Therese, in 2003 after being "a bit of a goose" at a New York strip club, appears to have been an unqualified success and resulted in no litigation whatsoever.

Canberra will be full of newcomers in the coming days.

The Rudd family pets, Jasper the cat and Abby the dog, are due to arrive at The Lodge this week, although precise details of their itinerary were not available.

And the 2007 crop of new MPs will be in Canberra for formal instruction in the basics of their new life. In a welcome indication that there still burns a spark of humour in the capital, Anthony Albanese has been chosen to lecture them on parliamentary standards.

And the bespectacled Mr Rudd will be at the centre of it all. For a man who confesses to being "so not cool" at high school, it must be rich fare indeed to have dined with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman on Saturday night at his Sydney pad, Kirribilli House, before returning to Canberra as that city's most powerful resident.

The nerds have never had such a revenge.

See - Kevin wants his own star in Hollywood.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Water poll redux - Praises heaped on 'hero' housewife ...

Press article following the overwhelming rejection of the outgoing Mayor's plan to build the white elephant recycled water plant in Toowoomba.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Praises heaped on 'hero' housewife

By Amanda Gearing

30 July 2006

Toowoomba housewife Rosemary Morley has become an overnight folk hero after successfully opposing a $460,000 council campaign to introduce water recycling.

Mrs Morley has received dozens of phone calls of congratulation from local residents as well as from people interstate and overseas since news of the "no" case win emerged.

"I've lost my voice today with so many people who can't say thank you enough," she said yesterday.

"I won, I won, I won. It was a hell of a battle but I wouldn't have missed it for quids."

She said more than a dozen people had phoned saying they had been going to leave Toowoomba if recycling was to be introduced and were relieved that they now did not have to leave town.

"We are going to have our clean, green image again," she said.

Mrs Morley said the campaign had overtaken her life for the past year.

"There has not been much time for my husband and family, but I was encouraged to keep going by the courage and sheer determination of everyday people," she said.

"All we had was a computer, a phone and a photocopier. We had no paid staff and this has all been done by the community."

She admitted to being surprised by the breadth of community concern about recycling, which ranged from young people to the elderly and from professional people to tradesmen.

"That's why I find it so offensive at being labelled a flat earther. It shouldn't have been said and it doesn't apply," she said.

Looking to the future, Mrs Morley said she had no big plans and would wait and see what happened.

Cr Lyle Shelton, one of three councillors against recycling, praised Mrs Morley for enduring what he called a campaign of vilification by City Hall.

See - Praises heaped on hero housewife.

Toowoomba voters out for justice at 2008 election ...

If Deputy Mayor Ramia and Councillors Albion, Alroe, Englart and Schneider think that voters have forgotten their attempts to force recycled water on Toowoomba residents, they need only take a glance at the daily paper.

Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle:

Writer reminds us of issues

11 January 2008

Like him or loathe him, you've got to give Rob Berry one thing - he's consistent.

He never lets you forget the problems and issues Toowoomba and its residents have seen in the recent past.

And this is why I write today.

The matter of the recycled water debate was the single most divisive issue we have faced in this city and was bought [sic] about by self-seeking politicians and bureaucrats in local government who thought they knew best.

This Rob Berry knew all too well.

What he should have known is that not all Toowoomba City Councillors were to blame for this debacle.

Indeed, if we had not had the support of Lyle Shelton, Keith Beer and Graham Barron not to mention the tireless efforts of Rosemary Morley, Snow Manners and others, we might have had an entirely different outcome.

And this is the problem; just because you want to rid Toowoomba of some utterly useless present day council officials, don't think for one minute that a few might not make excellent local government representatives on a Super Council.

Granted, it's going to be a monumental job, but none more so than the battle that was fought and won by people who took it upon themselves to make a stand against an administration that was neither consultative not frugal in their efforts to have residents in this city drink something they didn't have to - recycled water.

Mention the subject to resident of the many now flooded towns in this country and they'll think you came from another planet - may be even Tasmania.

RH
Toowoomba.

Toowoomba and Regional Council 2008 election hits youtube ...

First up it's Ian Jones, current mayor of Rosalie - oops - Clifton Shire [see how well known he is!], spruiking his wares.

See - Youtube - Ian Jones for Mayor - 3 min promo.

Also see - Ian Jones TV ad 1 and TV ad 2.

And the website - jones4mayor (not up and running yet).

As the 'CEO of a group of local primary producing, machinery importing, exporting companies', how will he have time to be Mayor of the expanded Council?

Just a thought ...

Friday, January 11, 2008

Toowoomba and Regional Council 2008 election - websites popping up ...

Things are starting to move.

Websites already up and running include (in no particular order):

Snow Manners - running for Mayor.

Ian Orford - running for Councillor.

Michele Alroe - running for Councillor (website has no mention of recycled water and her stance on it in the lead up to the 2006 Poll - guess she's try to distance herself and hoping people have forgotten - good luck with that!

Peter Marks - running for Councillor.

Ian Jones - running for Mayor.

Barry Sharp - running for Councillor.

Peter Taylor - running for Mayor (website currently down).

Bill Cahill - running for Councillor.

Both Rosemary Morley (running for Councillor) and Snow Manners have Facebook pages (access by signing up to Facebook).

Expect plenty more before March ...

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Anna Bligh shafts local councils on water compo ...

Excerpt from Brisbane Times:

State reveals water compensation

10 January 2008

South-East Queensland councils will receive less than $2 billion in compensation when the State Government seizes control of the region's dams and water treatment plants.

Treasurer Andrew Fraser announced today that the 17 affected councils would receive $1.9 billion, well short of the $6 billion South-East Queensland Council of Mayors said would be a "fair" figure.

But in a major concession to councils, the state will leave them in control of all wastewater treatment plants.

"In the end, we accepted the advice about the Waste Water Treatment Plants, which will remain in council ownership," Mr Fraser said.

"In addition, councils will continue to be entitled to the dividends from their water businesses, which account for 82 per cent of the water assets."

There are now 23 bulk water supply and treatment entities, and 17 retail bodies owned by 25 separate entities in the state.

Under the government's reforms a single entity will be created to look after the region's bulk water supply needs.

Most councils gave their in-principle support to the proposal when it was announced last year.

However, they were worried ratepayers would be short-changed if the government did not offer fair compensation for the value of the assets, as well as the revenue they would generate over a 30-year period.

Both parties were locked in a bitter dispute over the issue for much of 2007 and Premier Anna Bligh accused Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman of making up the $6 billion compensation figure.

However, the region's mayors insisted rate rises and service cuts would follow if councils were not properly paid out.

Mr Fraser today said the government's "generous" final offer was based on a valuation produced by international accounting and advisory firm KPMG.

He said the money paid to each council would wipe out about $2.4 billion in debt owed to the government through Queensland Treasury Corporation.

"Nearly $2 billion of debt is being wiped out, it's akin to someone paying off your mortgage for you.

"Councils won't just save the money on interest payments - the compensation figure is enough to nearly repay their entire debt to the state," Mr Fraser said.

It is believed Brisbane City Council, which will receive the largest amount of money ($880 million), will still owe about $30 million in debt.

Councils and organisations to be compensated (including their shares in the regional body, SEQWater) under the package include:

Aquagen (Sunshine Coast entity) - $118.406 million
Esk-Gatton-Laidley Water Board - $8.788 million
Brisbane City Council - $880.773 million
Beaudesert Shire Council - $17.224 million
Boonah Shire Council - $0.513 million
Caboolture Shire Council - $39.921 million
Caloundra Shire Council - $34.819 million
Esk Shire Council - $9.332 million
Gatton Shire Council - $3.365 million
Gold Coast City Council - $512.001 million
Ipswich City Council - $46.210 million
Kilcoy Shire Council - $7.180 million
Laidley Shire Council - $3.365 million
Logan City Council - $61.240 million
Maroochy City Council - $21.600 million
Noosa Shire Council - $23.345 million
Pine Rivers Shire Council - $65.798 million
Redcliffe City Council - $8.973 million
Redland Shire Council - $72.930 million


See - SEQ water storage compo.

Acting PM Gillard defends K Rudd bludging ...

See - the Australian - We are not bludging - we're just all on holidays.

Meanwhile China is to ban plastic bags.

See - BBC News - China announces plastic bag ban.

So what do KRudd and Garrett think - let's ban plastic bags too.

See - News.com.au - Peter Garrett considers bag ban.

Nice to see where their ideas are coming from ...

What happens to those questioning global warming ...

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Recycling humans - the things a RO plant has to deal with ...

Something to clog the RO membranes:

Man hacked up, flushed in toilet

9 January 2008

A woman in Germany put an end to her troubled marriage by chopping up her husband and flushing parts of him down the toilet, authorities said.

"'You won't find him, I've flushed him down the toilet', is what she told (her children)," Dusseldorf police spokesman Andre Hartwich said.


See - What RO membranes need to deal with.

Meanwhile outgoing Deputy Mayor Ramia continues to sound like a stuck record, complaining that none of the recent rain reached the dams.

See - Ramia whinges about dam levels once again.

What else would he say - it's been his consistent theme for over 2 years.

In 2 months, voters have a chance to put him out of his public misery and send him into retirement.

It might be different if the German woman was in Toowoomba, she might give the RO membranes something to deal with instead ...

Gold Coast Mayor wants to ease water restrictions ...

With Hinze Dam at 100% and overflowing, the Gold Coast Mayor wants to ditch SEQ water restrictions and let people water their lawns.

Excerpt from the Australian:

Call to ease water curbs as dams fill

9 January 2008


Gold Coast mayor Ron Clarke has urged the Queensland Government to ease water restrictions on the coast, partly to counter the possibility of flood damage this weekend.

The coast's main water storage, the Hinze Dam, has been overflowing for the past two days in the wake of the same weather system that triggered flooding across the border in NSW.

There was little rain yesterday, but more falls are forecast for this weekend. Despite the copious flow of water, the Gold Coast, like the rest of southeast Queensland, is still on level six water restrictions, which only allow watering of gardens with a bucket on alternate days between 4pm and 7pm. Mr Clarke has called for the state Government to put the Gold Coast on level three restrictions.

He said yesterday that while the possibility of rising floodwaters damaging low-lying parts of the coast such as the canal estates was "remote", it had to be taken seriously.

But he said he saw little need for tight restriction on the coast. "It just seems a bit silly at the moment," he said. "Everyone's been tightening their belt and cutting back on the water they use in a very responsible way, but at the moment there's water all around us.

"I don't think it would be too much to allow Gold Coasters to water their gardens or let us have showers at the beach."

Hinze Dam was at about 60per cent capacity last week but nearly 400mm of rain on the weekend pushed it to more than 100 per cent two days ago and it has stayed that way since.


See - Hinze Dam full.

Toowoomba and Regional Council Election 2008 ...



Changes ...

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Estonia worries that global warming has stopped ...

One of the more interesting blog visits:

The Office of The President of Estonia

Jan 7 2008 10:59:08 pm

Search Engine - google.ee

Search Words - global warming stopped

If global warming has stopped, maybe countries like New Zealand, Canada and possibly Australia won't need to make multi-million dollar Kyoto Treaty linked payments to purchase carbon credits ...

Monday, January 07, 2008

MP Turnbull's Australian Rain Corporation funding faces the axe ...

Federal government funding for the controversial Russian-sourced cloud seeding techology tests in SEQ face the axe - or at least whatever amount has not yet been paid out ...

Excerpt from the Australian:

Rudd to axe Howard's spending commitments

7 January 2008

Bureaucrats have been ordered to begin sifting through 225 individual spending commitments made by the Howard Government since last May to identify those that can be axed.
...

Other commitments that could be axed include several sporting facilities in marginal electorates, a program to fund the design of an Australian semi-conductor chip, a $10million contribution to a private company developing cloud seeding technology, and $12.5million to support nuclear power research.
...

See - Australian Rain Corporation funding faces axe.

Federal election - just how close it was ...

Excerpt from The Age:

Howard only 1.5% from being PM again

5 January 2008

It fel like a Labor landslide. Yet John Howard and his Coalition government came within 1.5% of holding on to power at the recent federal election, final figures show.

The Australian Electoral Commission says the Coalition ended up with 47.44% of the two-party vote after strongly outpolling Labor in the record 2.5 million postal, pre-poll and absentee votes counted after election night.

The final count shows the election was closer than it appeared on election night.

Not only did the Coalition haul back Labor's lead in overall votes, but the election outcome was decided in an extraordinary number of close seats that could have gone either way.

In the end, Labor won 83 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, the Coalition 65 and independents two. But nine of Labor's 83 seats were won by margins of less than 1.5%.

Had the Coalition won them, the seats would have been split 74-all, with two conservative independents holding the balance of power — and most likely using it to give John Howard a fifth term in office.

Labor's narrow wins included Maxine McKew's victory over Mr Howard in Bennelong (by 1.4%), the Victorian seats of Corangamite (0.85%) and Deakin (1.41%), and three seats won by tiny margins: Robertson (NSW, 0.11%), Flynn (Qld, 0.16%) and the Darwin seat of Solomon (0.19%).

With just 320 more votes in the right places, the Coalition could have cut Labor's majority to just 10 seats, a less than commanding tally. With fewer than 6000 more votes in the right seats, it could have held onto government.

But there was even more luck on the Coalition's side. It won 13 of its 65 seats by less than 2%, five of them by less than 0.22%.

They included the Melbourne fringe seat of McEwen, which former tourism minister Fran Bailey held by just 12 votes (0.01%), the Brisbane seat of Bowman, held by 64 votes (0.04%), the former Labor seat of Swan, won by 164 votes (0.11%), and the Queensland seats of Dickson (0.13%) and Herbert (0.21%).

All told, the Coalition won half its seats — 32 out of 65 — by majorities of less than 6%. Labor won 25 of its 83 by the same margin, including the seat of Melbourne, where Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner beat the Greens' Adam Bandt by just 4.71%.

Most of the 57 MPs in marginal seats now face new uncertainties, with federal redistributions likely in every state except South Australia before the next federal election.
...

See - Federal election - Howard only 1.5% away from being PM again.

Brisbane beefs up desal contingency plans ...

Excerpt from the Sunday Mail:

Mobile desalination to be on river barges

6 January 2008

The Queensland government will put mobile desalination plants on the Brisbane River to ensure water supplies if the record drought continues.

Acting Premier Paul Lucas said two mobile desalination plants were planned on barges on the Brisbane River at a cost of $550 million.

Preliminary works would cost an additional $125 million and included site selection, surveying, water modelling, environmental studies and geotechnical works.

The contingency moves, which would be assessed and approved at the end of the wet season in March or April, could pump an extra 144 megalitres of water a day into the region by the end of next year, even if the worst drought on record worsened.

"That's enough extra water for more than a million people a day,'' Mr Lucas said.
...


See - Brisbane beefs up with mobile desal plants.

Green globes trigger migraines ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Green globes trigger migraines

6 January 2008

The Federal Government may be forced to rethink a ban on old-style bulbs after claims the energy saving alternative can trigger migraines and epileptic attacks.

A leading British migraine body has claimed eco-bulbs worsen the symptoms of migraines, epilepsy and the auto-immune disease lupus.


...

See - Green globe suspicions.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Queensland flooding 'worst in 20 years' ...

See - Queensland flooding 'worst in 20 years'.

Also see - Flood photos.

Wait, haven't all the politicians been telling us it would never rain again ...

Outgoing Mayor - 2 properties sold - one to go ...

Only the house is left and she's willing to negotiate on price.

See - Will someone please buy her house.

K Rudd's team goes 0 for 3 on promises ...

Remember the Federal election and the immediate aftermath?

Remember the promises on interest rates and shadowing the Japanese whalers?

Fast forward to 5 January.

New Treasurer Wayne Swan is busy whacking the banks with a feather.

Actually not even that.

He's actually defending them raising their interest rates.

Wayne Swan has rushed to the defence of the major banks in his first month as Treasurer, despite their unprecedented decision to break ranks with the Reserve Bank and increase interest rates on mortgages and loans across the board.
...

Kevin Rudd and Mr Swan argued strongly during the election campaign that they did not want the banks to raise interest rates unnecessarily and punish families because of the global credit crisis.

However, Mr Swan, now on holiday at the Sunshine Coast, said the banks had commercial considerations to make in putting up rates.
...

As for the whalers, after committing Australia to send a ship and surveillance plane to watch the whalers, that project is unlikely to get off the ground until the whalers are back in Japan eating sushi.

The Rudd Government's commitment to stop whaling has been condemned as a sham, following the revelation that the company that will conduct aerial surveillance of the Japanese fleet sought approval to do so only yesterday.

As the time required to win clearance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is uncertain, the spy operation may not be approved until after the summer whaling season has finished.
...

It has also been established that the company that runs the A-319 aircraft, Skytraders, does not plan to conduct independent missions to find and track the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.

Rather, Skytraders chief executive Norman Mackay said the company's plane would run "diversions" while on once-a-week scheduled flights between Hobart and Casey Station in Antarctica.

This approach would limit the surveillance to a brief fly-over, and only if the position of the Japanese fleet were known and close enough to the Hobart-Antarctica route.

The Government was stung by reports revealing that despite Foreign Minister Stephen Smith's promise on December 19 that the ship tasked with monitoring the fleet, Oceanic Viking, would sail within "a few days", it was still in Fremantle.
...


Also see - Who's watching the whales while KRudd's watching the cricket?

And remember KRudd's statement that everyone gets two days off for Christmas and then it's down to work. It's January and they're all still on holidays.

- Mr Swan, now on holiday at the Sunshine Coast.

- Even gagged Environment Minister Peter Garrett looked relaxed in the Members' Stand.


- A month after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd is on holiday and seems to be in no rush to implement his major promises.

Feeling conned yet ...

How Victoria gets it right - recycled sewage keeps parks green ...

Excerpt from the Herald Sun:

Recycled sewage keeps parks green

4 January 2007

Recycled water from Werribee's western treatment plant is hot property as Victoria's drought drives demand through the roof.

City West Water has sold nearly 114 million litres of Class A recycled water in the first 12 months of operation at its two recycling standpipes.

The plant is earning a pretty penny from sales, with government and industry buyers forking out 71c a litre for the precious former sewage.

Melbourne's parks are the main beneficiaries.

Local councils snapped up 65 per cent of the treated effluent to keep sporting ovals and gardens green.

However City West Water managing director Anne Barker said a range of businesses were beating the drought by buying recycled water.

"It isn't just councils and sports facilities using recycled water," Ms Barker said.

"It's a viable alternative for car washing, graffiti removal, dust suppression, and industrial uses."

Portable toilet company Splashdown, made famous by the hit movie Kenny, has used the recycled water to flush more sewage at events such as Moomba and New Year's Eve in the city.

Splashdown managing director Glenn Preusker said using recycled water for portaloos completed a "circuit system" because the waste from the toilets was then taken for recycling.

"We worked out that, just at Moomba, using the recycled water saved the equivalent of an Olympic-sized pool of fresh water," Mr Preusker said.
...


See - Victoria - the correct approach to recycled water.

Why is it that some things are just too hard for the so-called 'Smart State' ...

Friday, January 04, 2008

How it feels … to be a sewage diver ...

If certain members of the Toowoomba City Council had their way, we'd all be sewage divers ...


Excerpt from The Age:

How it feels … to be a sewage diver

4 January 2008

Some people might pooh-pooh it, but Brendan Walsh likes his job.

I've been a professional diver for 25 years. My company will do any job that involves wetness. As long as there's a fluid of some kind, we'll attack it.

We'll do anything from pier rebuilds and bringing up boats that have sunk, to high-tech diving in sewage farms. Mostly we do general maintenance at the sewage farms but it could be rebuilding pumps or clearing blockages.

I've done about 1000 hours of sewage diving. Working in a pit of sewage is very difficult; you can't see anything for a start, so everything's done by feel.

You have to be quite mechanical to work out what's wrong, and how to fix it, and you also have to be able to relay your thoughts in a clear manner so the support guys on the surface can think about the same problem.

We have full communications in the suits so the divers can talk through the job.

And it all has to be done in zero visibility; a lot of times we're placing equipment within a millimetre, so you're drilling holes and using hammers blind. All professional divers tend to be tradesmen first.

Normally when they build a farm they will take photos as they make it and we look at those and work out a plan before we go down.

We can be under several metres of sewage for up to four hours.

The first metre or two of sewage can be quite dense. We've had it that thick that the guys have dropped spanners and they haven't fallen.

It's black and silent. It's just pure black, you can't see anything. It can be very claustrophobic and it takes careful planning before you go ahead.

You can walk through the sewage but not really swim. We've had times when there were big islands we've had to remove when pumps have broken down. We've had to go in with big suction heads and suck 500 foot of solid poo out — lovely days!

It doesn't smell bad at all for the diver; he's normally on processed air. The hardest job is the people who have to wash them down and clean them up afterwards.

It's a very serious job. We have stand-by divers fully dressed and ready to go in case something goes wrong. We have people in full plastic protective gear for the wash down.

For one dive we'd have a minimum support team of five people.

For a sewage dive we have the full contamination rubber suits that cost about $7500 and last about 150 to 300 dives. The helmets we wear weigh about 11 kilograms, so just to walk along before you get in the water takes a lot of strength, if you fall over you can do yourself major damage.

It's full-encapsulation diving — which means you're fully dry inside the suit, it has sealed cuffs on it, and the suit connects onto the diver's helmet so nothing touches the skin. We don't come out smelling at all because there's no contact.

The work can be dangerous if things go wrong and you don't plan properly. It's an extremely specialised area. Suits can flood, that's the main problem, plus you have to keep a watch on the amount of air you have.

When you're about to get in for the first time you stand on the side and hope the suit doesn't let you down.

The worst thing that can happen in a sewage dive is if you tear the suit and the suit floods. I'm pretty careful, so it's never happened to me. You might occasionally get a glove tear but that's really no difference to a piece of toilet paper ripping in the morning.

It is a problem still though. You have to abort the dive and clean and disinfect the diver's hands. It's a very big health issue. My divers have every available injection they can get. Every single diver has to have every inoculation on the list because there are numerous diseases floating around in there.

Before a dive you have to limit your fluids because once you start you can't go to the toilet and if you need to go you've probably got 15-20 minutes from when you decide you have to go until you can go. You've got to get out, be decontaminated and cleaned up.

We have to run a training course for the sewage diving and test the divers a fair bit before we let them near it. We do a test run in a pool, dress them in all the gear and make sure they're happy because we charge a lot of money for this work and we need to know the guy can handle it.

Some sewage farms can only turn their machines off for us to work on them between 1am and 3am when the flow is down, otherwise everyone's poo starts coming back up their toilets and then they complain.

I remember the very first day I went out to a farm to look at a job, and I thought: "My god, the guys are going to shoot me for taking this on." But the thing is they all love the work.

They all put their hand up for it. It's very satisfying to do the job in absolute zero visibility. It's about as high a level of diving that we can do.

It doesn't make me feel sick to do the work. I've never worked a day inside in my life, it's a good job. We have divers ringing from all over Australia trying to get a start with us and we get flown all around the country to do it.

I don't know if I would call it a glamorous job but it looks very good on a diver's log book to say that he's done the full-contamination, encapsulation diving.

People usually stand back a bit when they find out what we do — most of the time we can get a clear space at the bar.

It doesn't really worry us, what we're diving in, but it would be nicer if people actually chewed their corn.


See - Sewage divers.

Has global warming stopped ...

Excerpt from the New Statesman:

Has global warming stopped?

by David Whitehouse

19 December 2007

'The fact is that the global temperature of 2007 is statistically the same as 2006 and every year since 2001'

Global warming stopped? Surely not. What heresy is this? Haven’t we been told that the science of global warming is settled beyond doubt and that all that’s left to the so-called sceptics is the odd errant glacier that refuses to melt?

Aren’t we told that if we don’t act now rising temperatures will render most of the surface of the Earth uninhabitable within our lifetimes? But as we digest these apocalyptic comments, read the recent IPCC’s Synthesis report that says climate change could become irreversible. Witness the drama at Bali as news emerges that something is not quite right in the global warming camp.

With only few days remaining in 2007, the indications are the global temperature for this year is the same as that for 2006 – there has been no warming over the 12 months.

But is this just a blip in the ever upward trend you may ask? No.

The fact is that the global temperature of 2007 is statistically the same as 2006 as well as every year since 2001. Global warming has, temporarily or permanently, ceased. Temperatures across the world are not increasing as they should according to the fundamental theory behind global warming – the greenhouse effect. Something else is happening and it is vital that we find out what or else we may spend hundreds of billions of pounds needlessly.

In principle the greenhouse effect is simple. Gases like carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere absorb outgoing infrared radiation from the earth’s surface causing some heat to be retained.

Consequently an increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases from human activities such as burning fossil fuels leads to an enhanced greenhouse effect. Thus the world warms, the climate changes and we are in trouble.

The evidence for this hypothesis is the well established physics of the greenhouse effect itself and the correlation of increasing global carbon dioxide concentration with rising global temperature. Carbon dioxide is clearly increasing in the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s a straight line upward. It is currently about 390 parts per million. Pre-industrial levels were about 285 ppm. Since 1960 when accurate annual measurements became more reliable it has increased steadily from about 315 ppm. If the greenhouse effect is working as we think then the Earth’s temperature will rise as the carbon dioxide levels increase.

But here it starts getting messy and, perhaps, a little inconvenient for some. Looking at the global temperatures as used by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the UK’s Met Office and the IPCC (and indeed Al Gore) it’s apparent that there has been a sharp rise since about 1980.

The period 1980-98 was one of rapid warming – a temperature increase of about 0.5 degrees C (CO2 rose from 340ppm to 370ppm). But since then the global temperature has been flat (whilst the CO2 has relentlessly risen from 370ppm to 380ppm). This means that the global temperature today is about 0.3 deg less than it would have been had the rapid increase continued.

For the past decade the world has not warmed. Global warming has stopped. It’s not a viewpoint or a sceptic’s inaccuracy. It’s an observational fact. Clearly the world of the past 30 years is warmer than the previous decades and there is abundant evidence (in the northern hemisphere at least) that the world is responding to those elevated temperatures. But the evidence shows that global warming as such has ceased.

The explanation for the standstill has been attributed to aerosols in the atmosphere produced as a by-product of greenhouse gas emission and volcanic activity. They would have the effect of reflecting some of the incidental sunlight into space thereby reducing the greenhouse effect. Such an explanation was proposed to account for the global cooling observed between 1940 and 1978.

But things cannot be that simple. The fact that the global temperature has remained unchanged for a decade requires that the quantity of reflecting aerosols dumped put in our atmosphere must be increasing year on year at precisely the exact rate needed to offset the accumulating carbon dioxide that wants to drive the temperature higher. This precise balance seems highly unlikely. Other explanations have been proposed such as the ocean cooling effect of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation or the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.

But they are also difficult to adjust so that they exactly compensate for the increasing upward temperature drag of rising CO2. So we are led to the conclusion that either the hypothesis of carbon dioxide induced global warming holds but its effects are being modified in what seems to be an improbable though not impossible way, or, and this really is heresy according to some, the working hypothesis does not stand the test of data.

It was a pity that the delegates at Bali didn’t discuss this or that the recent IPCC Synthesis report did not look in more detail at this recent warming standstill. Had it not occurred, or if the flatlining of temperature had occurred just five years earlier we would have no talk of global warming and perhaps, as happened in the 1970’s, we would fear a new Ice Age! Scientists and politicians talk of future projected temperature increases. But if the world has stopped warming what use these projections then?

Some media commentators say that the science of global warming is now beyond doubt and those who advocate alternative approaches or indeed modifications to the carbon dioxide greenhouse warming effect had lost the scientific argument. Not so.

Certainly the working hypothesis of CO2 induced global warming is a good one that stands on good physical principles but let us not pretend our understanding extends too far or that the working hypothesis is a sufficient explanation for what is going on.

I have heard it said, by scientists, journalists and politicians, that the time for argument is over and that further scientific debate only causes delay in action. But the wish to know exactly what is going on is independent of politics and scientists must never bend their desire for knowledge to any political cause, however noble.

The science is fascinating, the ramifications profound, but we are fools if we think we have a sufficient understanding of such a complicated system as the Earth’s atmosphere’s interaction with sunlight to decide. We know far less than many think we do or would like you to think we do. We must explain why global warming has stopped.


See - Global warming - has it stopped?