dry old gold coast

When you are dealing with something as crucial as water supply, you must rely on evidence based research, not waffle, at least in the final planning stages. The federal government and BCA, in contrast, have their heads in the sand on the issue of climate change. The former has even used the strategy of the tobacco industry i.e. deny the problem and heavily fund research to show as much. But when the research doesn't show what you want to see you pull the plug. The FG hasn't had the luxury of shredding the research, so instead the Menzies Institute mutters about scientific research being hijacked by left wing subversives. Action speak louder than words however and the glaring question remains: Why does the FG cut the research rather than take on those who misreport it?


Gold Coast 'will start to run dry' by 2007
Craig Johnstone
May 18, 2004

A MAJOR new report on southeast Queensland's looming water crisis estimates the Gold Coast will start running out of available water in three years unless new supplies are found.

And it warns it is "starkly evident" that the region needs to dramatically reduce its demand for drinking water or start planning new ways to supply water, including desalination.
The draft water supply strategy for the region backs proposals for a new pipeline to connect the Gold Coast with the Wivenhoe Dam, saying plans to expand the local Hinze Dam would be too expensive and fail to yield sufficient supply.

The report estimates that by 2007-08, the Gold Coast will be in danger of needing more water than its current storage infrastructure is able to supply.

The draft strategy urges that the State Government and local councils adopt the proposal to build a pipeline from the Wivenhoe Dam to supply the Gold Coast with about 85 million litres of water a day.

Preliminary estimates put the cost of such a pipeline at $80 million, depending on the route it takes and the water supply requirements of other councils in the region.

The South-East Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils endorsed the pipeline option at its last monthly meeting, but deferred considering the rest of the draft strategy until council officers were able to study its other recommendations.

These include reviewing the estimated timeframes for full use of existing water supplies and adopting a regional approach to managing demand for water.

The strategy, which is meant to secure the region's water supply needs for 15 years, warns that previous estimates of how much water supply would increase with the construction of new dams in the region have been shown to be inaccurate.

While previous estimates suggested these new dams would supply the region with about 190,000 megalitres of water a year, revised estimates put the new supply at just 85,000 megalitres.

It urges a more detailed assessment of the proposed new dams in southeast Queensland before the Government and councils commit themselves to building them.

The strategy also canvasses courses of action such as desalination plants and bulk supply of rainwater tanks or recycled water in new residential estates.

"There is a need to either embrace opportunities for large-scale reduction in potable water demand and prepare contingency plans for droughts, or commence planning to develop additional supplies including desalination options to provide water to the SEQ region in future," it says.

The strategy says previous estimates of the amount of water supply that would be produced by expanding the Hinze Dam have had to be slashed because of the impact of the recent drought.

While Gold Coast Water had been banking on the expanded dam supplying 115 million litres of water a day to the city, new studies suggest this would be reduced to just 33 million litres a day.

The strategy says that given this reduced yield, the cost of expanding the dam would be the same as operating a plan to desalinate seawater.



The Courier-Mail


This report appears on NEWS.com.au.