SEQ water grid - Wivenhoe pipeline update ...

20 May 2009

Water Supply, Toowoomba

Mr SHINE: My question is directed to the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, and I ask: can the minister provide an update on work on the Toowoomba water pipeline?

Mr HINCHLIFFE: While SEQ’s dam levels have now topped 60 per cent, we have not forgotten that Toowoomba’s situation remains dire. There have been some good falls overnight up on the range, I can advise the honourable member for Toowoomba North, but the Garden City’s combined dam levels remain under 10 per cent. There have been 90 millimetres into Crestbrook, 82 millimetres into Perseverance and 39 millimetres into Cooby, which has produced one-quarter of a per cent increase to 9.45 per cent. As I say, the situation in Toowoomba remains dire.

That is why we are getting on with the job of building the $187 million underground pipeline to supply Toowoomba with water from Lake Wivenhoe. The workforce is now at its peak, with 261 workers on site. I want to thank them for delivering earlier than expected on a number of milestones. They only started laying the pipe in March and already one-third of the total 38 kilometres is in the ground. That is great progress. However, we know that there will also be times when work is slower than expected, perhaps because of rainfall.

We are now well on track to have that pipeline operating on time, by the end of January 2010. Not only will this pipeline provide a vital, secure water supply for the Garden City for decades to come; it is also providing local jobs that are important right now in the midst of this global economic crisis that some in the House do not seem to think exists. All 261 workers are employed full-time, with over 200,000 person hours worked to date on the project. The economic boost to the local region has been absolutely terrific. Esk, Tagoolawah, Crows Nest, Gatton, Fernvale and Toowoomba are all experiencing a boost from this project, with over $5.3 million committed to local businesses to date.

Now the Beaudesert region is also gearing up for the jobs and local spending that will flow from the Wyaralong Dam—another water supply project which will support some 420 jobs. They have hit the ground running with that project, building SEQ’s first dam in 20 years. It will be fantastic to see that finished by 2011. It will be an invaluable new water resource for the whole of South-East Queensland to help cope with climate change and population growth into the future.

UPDATE: New link added.

See - Hansard - 20 May 2009 - Wivenhoe pipeline update.