18 MAR 2007

By Daren Giles 

A SUNSHINE Coast council has accused the State Gov­ernment of stealing its water.

Caioundra City Council has thumbed Its nose at gov­ernment plans to take water from its dams to boost supplies in Brisbane.

Cr Andrew Champion, 46, said: “They want us to be good neighbours, but good neighbours don’t steal.”

Cr Champion said Caloun­dra had enough water to supply the city’s 100,000 population throughout the prolonged drought, without imposing restrictions.

The council offered the state some of its freshwater supply and all of its waste-water, but the bureaucrats wanted more.

Cr Champion said the Baroon Pocket Dam near Maleny was 80 per cent full He feared it could shrink to 10 per cent within three years if the State Govern­ment stepped in.

“They are just pig­headed,” he said. “Beattie and Bligh have got big egos. They think they can do what they like.”

He had another idea for Government: save the $2 bil­lion from the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam and buy 500,000 water tanks for every home In Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Caloundra was considering buying tanks and giving resi­dents 20 years to pay them off on their rates and instal­ling them cost free.

“The Government and other councils should follow our lead,” said Cr Champion.

Deputy Premier and Min­ister for Infrastructure Anna Bligh said the Government’s northern connector pipeline would help supply the southeast. “We are building a two-way pipeline between Brisbane and the north Coast that will allow water to be moved from the Sun­shine Coast, when it has a surplus, to Brisbane, when it has a deficit,” she said.

Ms Bligh said state state would control water through the water grid not individual councils.

“We will not be having peo­ple opting in and opting out and have a parochial attitude in their own back yard.

“Water belongs to every­body and we will move it around to where southeast Queensland citizens need it.”