Updated on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 12:27PM by stevem

The Bligh Government may not admit it but there were quarters breathing a deep sigh of relief after federal Minister Peter Garrett put the ‘stop’ sign up for the Traveston dam project. The wheels were well in motion for damming the Mary River when Anna Bligh took over as premier — it was a Peter Beattie project. Fast forward to 2009 and the State Government simply can’t afford any more big-ticket infrastructure projects. To have the Traveston dam off the books is like winning lotto for this Government. And limiting water consumption to 200 litres per person per day is as much about delaying the need to sign a cheque for another desalination plant as it is about genuine water conservation.

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Updated on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 07:46AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 08:02AM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 07:20AM by stevem

Mayor Bob Abbot wants the state government to stop draining the Sunshine Coast’s water supply after Baroon Pocket Dam this week came close to its lowest level in more than two years. The controversial northern interconnector pipeline has siphoned 7800 million litres of water since it was completed in March, while the Coast region experienced less than half its normal rainfall during a long dry winter. The Bureau of Meteorology has also predicted below average rains this summer, with a similar El Nino effect forming to that experienced in 2002, which preceded the worst drought in Queensland’s history. Baroon Pocket’s level dropped by nearly 10% in the past two months and an average of 1% a week to its current level of 86%.

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Campaigners who have successfully stopped the construction of the proposed Traveston Crossing dam were today calling on the Premier to “stop the scaremongering” over the price of water in the wake of Minister Garrett’s decision regarding the proposed dam. “We are responding to the repeated claims by the Premier that now that the Traveston Crossing dam has been knocked back by Garrett, water prices will have to go up in Brisbane,” said Glenda Pickersgill, president of the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group. “The independent assessment Minister Garrett commissioned found the economic analysis used to justify the failed Traveston Crossing dam to be seriously flawed. This report vindicates criticisms that we, and many other groups have made over the last three and a half years.” “Are they using the same flawed economic analysis to support the statements made last week about the increase in water costs? - asked Ms Pickersgill. “The figures suggested by Minister Robertson last week certainly don’t stack up in our view and we are very concerned that the Premier is making the same mistakes all over again.” “If prices go up, the numbers show it would be no fault of Minister Garrett but the fault of the Queensland Government for their dogmatic approach to water management, their consistent economic bungling and repeated cost blowouts in their water infrastructure projects.” The Coordinator General himself admitted in his report on the Traveston Crossing dam proposal, that even with the highest population growth predicted only 20 billion litres more water would be needed in South East Queensland by 2026.

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LAST month’s announcement that the federal government would demand a say in planning the future of Australian cities saw Queensland premier Anna Bligh immediately jump in with a suggestion. Ms Bligh applauded prime minister Kevin Rudd’s approach but said her state already had the answers. Lauding her government’s infrastructure plan as an international award winner, Ms Bligh said it could be the model to guide the growth of the “big Australia” Mr Rudd envisaged. There is fat chance of that now. Central to that SEQ infrastructure plan was her government’s $9 billion water strategy which now lies exposed as an exercise in pure folly.

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Updated on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 10:38AM by stevem

Updated on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 10:42AM by stevem

Premier Anna Bligh has another water battle on her hands after a huge rally last night vowed to fight tooth and nail to block desalination plants as a water security option. Ms Bligh will again have to run the gauntlet of the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act, which killed off the Traveston Crossing Dam. The Marcoola pipeline route from the ocean to the desalination plant and then on to connect with the grid to take water to Brisbane would affect 35 different species covered by that act, according to Sunshine Coast councillor Debbie Blumel.

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Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 07:03AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 07:22AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 07:34AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 08:04AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 08:15AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 08:22AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 09:00AM by stevem

A Split has opened in the state government over whether a desalination plant would be built and operating at Marcoola by 2017. Queensland premier Anna Bligh responded to the federal government’s axing of the Traveston dam last week by declaring that sites at Marcoola and Lytton, on Brisbane’s bayside, would “be needed for desalination to be operational in 2017. This will mean more expensive water as a result of the federal decision this afternoon”. However, the department of natural resources, in response to several questions asked by the Sunshine Coast Daily, has cast serious doubt on those time lines.

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THE Sunshine Coast will have more than enough water to keep it flush well beyond 2017, even though the Traveston Dam is absolutely off the table. The Australian Water Association’s Queensland conference was held yesterday at the Hyatt Coolum, just days after the dam was rejected by the federal government. When state minister for climate change and sustainability Kate Jones addressed the meeting yesterday, she said even after federal environment minister Peter Garrett “made the wrong decision in relation to the Traveston Crossing Dam”, our region still had a very secure water supply. Ms Jones opened her speech by saying, “At the outset, let me say the AWA sure knows when to schedule its regional water conference”. She said Mr Garrett’s rejection of the dam proposal, highlighted the strength of the region’s water grid, even without the giant piece of infrastructure.

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Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 06:09AM by stevem

Updated on Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 06:11AM by stevem

Updated on Monday, November 16, 2009 at 08:56AM by stevem

The Bligh government has spent nearly $100 million on a pipeline that is still to be approved by the federal government. The federal environment department confirmed yesterday that documentation from Queensland coordinator general Colin Jensen for stage two of its northern water grid pipeline only arrived this week. It still had to go through a process of validation to ensure all relevant issues were addressed before it would even be considered by environment minister Peter Garrett.

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Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 08:48AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:04AM by stevem

Updated on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 09:42AM by stevem

THE state government will press ahead with a $450 million spend on stage two of its water grid pipeline despite the loss of the Traveston Crossing Dam. The expenditure comes on top of $350 million already outlaid for stage one of the network. Infrastructure and planning minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the stage from Eudlo to Lake Macdonald linked the Sunshine Coast to the water grid and would improve water security and flexibility under critical supply situations.

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Updated on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 04:29PM by stevem

Updated on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:43AM by stevem

THE Bligh Government is sitting on a high-level report identifying the location of the second-wave of desalination plants planned for Queensland. The report, completed months ago, reveals which of two environmentally sensitive sites at Bribie Island or Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast will host a proposed new desalination plant. A site at bayside Lytton in Brisbane and either the Bribie or Marcoola options - both of which involve building in national parks - were identified last February as “priority” locations. However, despite promising a final decision on sites by mid-year, the Government now says it will not release the report until a decision is made on the Traveston Dam in the Mary Valley.

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