Toowoomba Regional Council's great Wivenhoe to Toowoomba pipeline fiasco ...
The Chronicle:
Council no wiser over contract
12 August 2009
The absence of a water-tight agreement with the State Government on the Wivenhoe Dam pipeline has left homeowners vulnerable to another rates rise.
If the cash-strapped State Government fails to honour a previous agreement on the cost of bulk water, Toowoomba ratepayers will face further increases next year.
Householders are already reeling from a 100 per cent increase in water charges announced in last month’s budget.
Mayor Peter Taylor said yesterday that he did not have a signed contract with the government on what it would charge the council for each megalitre of water out of Wivenhoe Dam.
He said that staff based this year’s budget on a commitment by Deputy Premier Paul Lucas to keep prices to about $2250 a megalitre (equal to the 2013-14 price of water in Brisbane).
“We need confirmation on that price. We’re yet to get (that),” Cr Taylor said.
Without a contract, the Queensland Water Commission (QWC) could increase the cost of bulk water. Council will have to pass on any rise to ratepayers.
“We have spoken to (Infrastructure Minister) Stirling Hinchliffe and (Natural Resources Minister) Stephen Robertson about the ongoing water costs,” Cr Taylor said.
A QWC spokeswoman said negotiations would be completed by the end of the year. She said the council initiated negotiations of an agreement reached in October.
See - The Chronicle - Council no wiser over contract.
No idea who will own the pipeline.
No idea how much the water will cost.
Yet Toowoomba Regional Council has already doubled water rates ...
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 7:29 AM
11 Comments:
Taylor will just lay down and take whatever deal the state government tells him to. Pathetic really.
10:43 AM, August 12, 2009
Taylor and all the councillors are just more than pathetic.
It is obvious they are not running council now. They just turn up for their fancy sandwiches, nod their heads and collect their huge paypackets, they are just any extremely lazy bunch of councillors.
Also what has Horan had to say - nothing he is just as pathetic!
2:17 PM, August 12, 2009
This fellow is a fool.
I wonder if the good citizens know that this Regional Council will rake in Thirty Million Dollars in this year and every year after that from the hike in the water bill.
How dare they double the price of the water access pipe when not one drop of water will flow through it until the drought breaks and the dams are full.
The Wivenhoe pipeline is a drought contingency water supply only and will deliver no extra water to the rate payer.
They do not have a clue!
They could have bought a farm or two for less money than they will spend on the pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam. The bores on these properties would supply more water than the Wivenhoe Dam pipeline will and we would own them!
This would mean that they would have to think outside the square and go against State Government plans for our region.
2:54 PM, August 12, 2009
It looks like some-one should get the sack and I believe that it should be the back room fellow in charge of water.
3:02 PM, August 12, 2009
The pipeline tap will be turned on early next year and Cressbrook filled to 20% capacity.
3:59 PM, August 12, 2009
I don't get it Anonymous @ 2:54pm
First you say no water will come from Wivenhoe until the dams are full then you say its only for drought contingency. I would've thought the reverse was the case
Also a bit of back of the fag packet figuring tells me that doubling the access charge is about what is required
7:01 PM, August 13, 2009
Correction: No extra water will flow through the pipeline because the Wivenhoe pipeline water is a drought contingency supply only.
These are the words of the Deputy Mayor Cr. Paul Antonio
Quote from the advertisement in the Chronicle after the budget was bought down. " Cr Antonio warned that even with the pipeline, until the dam catchment receives drought-breaking rain, dam storages would simply be marking time."
So why double the access pipe price?
The water rate we pay covers the maintenance of these pipelines and we all paid for the access pipeline when we purchased our land and have continued to pay $160-00 per half year.
7:30 AM, August 14, 2009
Have you done the figures?
The TRC rake in $30M each year with the doubling of water charges and they say it is to pay for a $200M pipeline (They don't even know the final cost of it yet).
Add these figures up over the next so many years and I think that there will be enough in there to build a new dam.
Another thought: With help from the gas people we could have their water flowing into here too.
The last offer Qld. Gas Company made was $100M to help with a pipeline to bring their water into us. It can be RO'd and added to our bore supply.
They will not be able to pond this water after 2011.
Just a thought: Maybe the Wivenhoe pipeline is more about taking gas water down to Wivenhoe Dam for the Brisbane and S/E people than it is about pumping limited water to Toowoomba.
7:47 AM, August 14, 2009
The Chronicle:
$20 million water bill on cards
14th August 2009
$20 million — this could be the Toowoomba Regional Council’s water bill in the 18 months after the Wivenhoe Dam pipeline comes online.
The multi-million dollar figure is based on the State Government keeping its commitment to charge us $2250 a megalitre for its supply.
The council has already budgeted around this price which prompted a 100 per cent water rates rise last month.
The Chronicle worked out its figure based on Cressbrook Dam being about 8.7% capacity.
Once the pipeline is completed, pumps will operate non-stop for 12-18 months to raise the water level in Cressbrook to more than 20%.
Mayor Peter Taylor yesterday agreed the new water was “very expensive”.
But he said it was necessary to provide for the extra 71,000 people expected to move to the city by 2031.
“We just have to have water,” he said.
“We have to have water security or we can’t accommodate our future growth.”
He said the Wivenhoe connection would guarantee supplies until 2050.
“Other alternatives were even more expensive,” he said.
“There weren’t any other options that were viable.”
9:58 AM, August 14, 2009
Read the Task Force report
Wivenhoe is for the future growth in Toowoomba's water needs
Pipeline construction has been brought forward as a drought contingency and with an el nino likely it might be needed
How's these quick sums
Cost of pipeline to TRC = $111 million (60% of cost, rest susidised by government)
Interest costs @ 7% per annum on this amount = $7.8 million
Redemption@ 1/40th = $2.78 million
Total (whether a drop of water is pumped or not) = $10.55 million per annum
Then maintenance
Plus operating costs if water is pumped
On the revenue side
38,000 connections at extra annual charge of $360 / annum = $12.2 million
Getting close and again whether a drop is pumped or not
4:20 PM, August 14, 2009
El Nino likely? Oh no, it's never going to rain again!!! Where have we heard that before???
11:27 PM, August 14, 2009
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