By Carolyn Tucker
12.08.2006 

AQUAGEN could be stuck with the $180 million bill for the pipeline to supply our water to drought-stricken Brisbane. Sunshine Coast ratepayers may ultimately be forced to pay some of the tab for the Traveston dam.

These are just two of the possibilities emerging following the deal signed by South-east Queensland mayors and the premier this week.

While all council leaders have accepted the need for emergency water measures there is still no word on who will pay.

Despite assurances to the mayors of Maroochy and Caloundra that the region would retain control of its local water supply and could sell excess water, the issue of who would fund the pipeline has not been settled.

If Aquagen is forced to outlay the full $180 million for the design and construction it would then aim to recoup the cost by factoring it into the price it charges for water supplied to the grid.

An equity partnership with the state government is another possibility.

There is a suggestion of a uniform water use charge being imposed on all water users throughout South-east Queensland, which would see Coast ratepayers absorbing some of the costs of building new infrastructure such as a desalination plant on the Gold Coast and the Traveston Dam.

The state government is saying little on the issue of costs and water charges other than to say it would ask for advice from the Queensland Water Commission.

A spokesperson from the premier’s office said: “Aquagen is working with the Government and other water service providers to deliver the water grid.”

Aquagen board member and Caloundra Councillor Dick Newman said it was difficult to keep up with all the possibilities being floated.

“We’re not particularly opposed to paying for the pipeline and owning that infrastructure, but I know the state is also looking at an equity partnership,” he said.

“It’s difficult to know what the impact on water users from all of this will be.”

Caboolture mayor Joy Leishman said her council had been lobbying for the Bribie Borefields groundwater extraction project for four years and she was pleased it had finally been given the green light this week as part the government’s strategy to tackle the drought.

Noosa Mayor Bob Abbot said the Water Commission now had responsibility for determining water charges and, whatever the outcome, it appeared inevitable that we would all be paying more.

“Unfortunately the new measures being introduced have to be paid for,” he said.