Scrap Traveston Dam, say desal supporters
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in Dam Alternatives, Desalination, Environmental, Recycling, Water Grid, Wyaralong Dam
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27 March 2008
Sunshine Coast MPs and environnmentalists have called on the State Government to scrap the Traveston Dam after it yesterday revealed plans for desalination plants at Marcoola, Kawana and Bribie Island.
Council and government owned land at Marcoola, Kawana and Bribie Island has been set aside for possible plants, part of the Queensland Water Commission’s 50-year strategy to secure water supplies for the south-east.
The $2.6 million strategy, jointly funded by the state and local governments, outlines measures which could be implemented when demand begins to exceed supply around 2028.
They include adding purified recycled water to Sunshine Coast water supplies to cater for the south-east corner’s booming population, expected to more than double to six million by 2056.
The potential sites highlighted in the strategy include council-owned land next to Sunshine Coast Airport, council property near the Kawana sewage treatment plant and state government land used as a pine plantation at Bribie Island.
Water commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy said climate-dependent water sources would be exhausted with the Traveston and Wyaralong dams and climate-resilient sources would have to be found in future.
It is estimated the three proposed desalination plants on the Coast would each have a capacity of 146,000 megalitres – more than twice the annual yield of stage one of the Traveston Dam.
Ms Nosworthy said there was no suggestion the government would consider dumping the dam in favour of non-rainfall dependent options outlined in the strategy.
“The government made a policy judgment that it would invest first in further dams and at the time that decision was made, the ferocity and length of the drought was not understood nor the likely impact of climate change in the future,” Ms Nosworthy said.
“Everyone has come a long way and for planning purposes, desalination and purified recycled water have come to the fore.
“Community views have changed and we now understand it’s important to have a climate resilient supply.” – that’s all come in the last few years.”
The government said the strategy was a ringing endorsement of its water grid.
However, environmental groups, anti-dam Traveston dam campaigners and the opposition said it was a clear indication that initial planning for water had been hopelessly inadequate.
Sunshine Coast mayor-in-waiting Bob Abbot told thedaily.com.au the announcement confirmed what the Mary River council of mayors had been saying more than a year ago - that the Traveston Dam should be scrapped - and that alternatives such as desalination properly explored.
But Mr Abbot was reluctant to comment further because he was yet to be sworn in. However, he told a Brisbane paper he would be having words with the Premier over the fact that he had not even been informed of the plans.
Sunshine Coast Environment Council general manager Ian Christesen said it was time for the government to admit that the Traveston dam was not a solution to water woes.
Mr Christesen said the likely impacts of climate change had been known for many years and to suggest this had only come to light recently was ludicrous.
“Climate change has been on everyone’s radar for the last couple of years, the prognosis hasn’t changed, and nor has the viability of the dam,” he said.
“The only thing that’s changed is that the government has taken the blinkers off and started to look at some of the options that have been there along.
The opposition’s spokeswoman for infrastructure, Fiona Simpson, said this strategy and the Water Commissioner’s comments left no doubt that the Traveston Dam was a political decision and desalination was a better and more reliable option.
“It was always a joke and they’ve been throwing money around like confetti,” Ms Simpson said.
“You could scrap the Traveston Dam today and still build a desalination plant quicker which would produce a guaranteed water supply,” she said.
“The Sunshine Coast has paid once, twice and three times for their bad planning.”
Ms Simpson said the plant should be built near the centre of population growth and the member for Kawana, Steve Dickson, said Bribie Island was the obvious choice.
“They should do away with the Traveston Dam now that they’ve basically admitted they got it wrong but this government doesn’t want to deal with the truth,” Mr Dickson said.
“A desalination plant at Bribie Island run by green energy is clearly the way to go.”
Kevin Ingersole, from the Save the Mary Valley Coordinating Group, said the 50-year water strategy had confirmed their long-held view that the dam was a dud.
“Everybody in this community has been saying for a long time ‘why would you build a risky dam when you have more secure water supply options?’
“It’s time to drop the Traveston dam,’’ he said.
Ms Nosworthy said details of specific sites for desalination had been released to ensure the community was not taken by surprise at a later date and a detailed assessment would be undertaken over the next few years.
“We’ve taken some care to find sites that aren’t in the heart of residential development and over the next six months we should get closer to having a sense of which sites are more viable but it will be several years before we have finality,” she said.
“We wanted to start now and be prepared.
“If we come out of drought we wouldn’t be looking to build until 2025 to be ready by 2028, but if we got to say, 2012, and go into prolonged drought we want to be able to activate our drought response so we never go back to extreme or high water restrictions.”
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Moreton Bay islands focus for desalination plans
Brian Williams and Sophie Elsworth
March 26, 2008
CONSERVATIONISTS and residents’ groups fear future desalination plants on North and South Stradbroke and Bribie islands could endanger Moreton Bay.
They said lack of detail made yesterday’s announcement a “total joke” and argued that a sustainable future for the islands off Brisbane was in eco-tourism, not industry.
Plans for desalination plants at Marcoola and Kawana also came under fire, with Sunshine Coast Regional Council Mayor Bob Abbot attacking the State Government for not telling him two desalination plants were planned for his area.
A 53ha site at Finland Rd, Marcoola, and a 28ha site at Milieu Pl, Birtinya, near Kawana – both council land – are among six proposed sites for water plants in the state’s southeast.
Stradbroke Island Management Organisation president Jackie Cooper said the Government had released no details on critical issues such as where the water would be drawn from, where excess salt would be dumped and the impact on fragile eco-systems such as Eighteen Mile Swamp.
It was not clear where or how water would be piped or where roads and power lines would be laid, making the proposals difficult to address.
“This looks like somebody without the merest understanding of the island’s topography just put an X on the map,” she said. “This is a total joke.”
The draft strategy proposes a 3110ha 400 megalitre site on Bribie, a 1970ha 400 megalitre site on North Stradbroke and a 63ha 400 megalitre site on South Stradbroke.
Bribie Island Environmental Protection Association spokesman Ian Bell said the size of the site and the plant, salt disposal and electricity towers concerned him.
Nevertheless, the proposal might be a better option than the Caboolture Shire Council proposal to draw 6 megalitres of water a day from the island’s wetlands.
“The beauty of desal is it provides 100 per cent reliability even in the worst conditions,” Mr Bell said.
“Compare this with the Caboolture proposal. It threatens the local environment, the national park and Ramsar wetlands. They’d be better off getting rid of Traveston and Wyaralong dams and the Bribie borefield and putting in desal.”
The plants are part of planning to meet southeast Queensland’s water needs for the next 50 years.
Ms Cooper said it was odd that while the Government was revising the Moreton Bay Marine Park, ostensibly to better protect it, it was proposing highly polluting industry.
Residents had already fought off a proposal to take 22 megalitres of water a day off the island. “If they thought the battle over water was difficult, we’ll really put up a storm against desalination,” she said. “If it’s not one damn thing for Straddie, it’s another.”
Queensland Conservation co-ordinator Toby Hutcheon said it was a major concern that the Government was proposing four desalination plants between Tugun and Bribie.
If the plants were feasible, conservationists would want to ensure there were no impacts from ocean outfalls and that all plants were powered by renewable energy. He said creating water would remove the natural brake on the population explosion, leading to even more unsustainable growth.
Mr Abbot said he was being “treated with contempt” and would be “having words with the Premier”, after failing to be told of the possible locations for desalination plants at Marcoola and Kawana.
“The first I heard about it was when a journalist called me this morning,” he said yesterday.
Mr Abbot, however, said desalination plants were a better option than the controversial Traveston Dam, which was “not going to do the job in the long and short term”.
Sunshine Coast Environment Council general manager Ian Christesen said the plants would not be welcome.
“Desalination must be driven by renewable energy, and we can’t put our heads in the sand any longer,” he said.
Cane farmer Veli Mantyla, 43, of Marcoola, said his father owned 40ha of land adjacent to the proposed Finland Rd site.
“They’re already going to put an airport runway basically behind us, so a desalination is the least of our disturbances compared to an international airport,” he said.
“The only thing that concerns me is where are they going to pump out the brine, if they pump it into the ocean it’s going to be a problem.”
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The truth about Coast desal sites
28 March 2008
By Carolyn Tucker
Consultants commissioned by the state government to identify suitable sites for desalination plants were specifically told to find locations on the Sunshine Coast.
The Queensland Water Commission has announced that sites at Marcoola and Kawana are being considered as part of its long-term strategy to drought-proof south-east Queensland.
An examination of consultants’ desalination reports reveals that sites on the Sunshine Coast were initially ruled out. The plant at Kawana had been proposed by commercial interests, on land which includes important habitat.
The company commissioned to prepare numerous desalination studies for the government, GHD, made no mention of Sunshine Coast sites in its 2006 draft report.
It was then told to add possibilities in the region.
“The Department of Natural Resources and Water commissioned GHD to undertake a desalination plant siting study encompassing the entire SEQ region,” the company report prepared in June 2006 said.
“Following the submission of a draft report covering the above objective, (the department) further requested that GHD undertake a further assessment of plant siting opportunities encompassing the North Coast of the SEQ region specifically.
“This was to address the issue of the lack of sites being identified in this area of SEQ as part of the broader study.
“In other words, sites south of Caloundra would appear to be relatively preferred for siting a desalination plant(s) in SEQ.”
The water commission said the initial criteria used to identify sites had led to too few suitable locations being identified.
“On the Sunshine Coast the first screening process eliminated potential sites because of land use criteria where any site was immediately adjacent to specific land zones such as residential, national parks and conservation land uses,” a spokesman said.
“This process resulted in too few strategic sites for the whole of SEQ and so we needed to expand the net wider.”
As a result, GHD examined 13 locations between Caloundra and Noosa, and concluded that sites at Bells Creek Road near Caloundra, Marcoola and Peregian were the best options.
A report prepared in December 2007 ranked these and six other sites in south-east Queensland, based on social, environmental and engineering criteria.
This report also made reference to the difficulties in finding suitable locations on the Sunshine Coast.
“The main contributing factor to a lack of suitable (Sunshine Coast) sites appears to be a result of extensive residential development in the region, as well as large parcels of land dedicated to national parks and other conservation uses,” it said.
While at some pains to point out that its rankings were not definitive and further investigation was required, the GHD report listed Bribie Island at number one, followed by Marcoola.
Peregian and Bells Creek Road were ranked sixth and ninth, although these rankings were variable.
The site at Kawana was included after the draft report was prepared at the request of the water commission.
The report explains the government had advertised for proposals for water supply contingency measures in June 2007, which had been evaluated and short listed.
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Kawana desal site originally rejected
29 March 2008
By Carolyn Tucker
The site earmarked for a desalination plant at Kawana had previously been considered and rejected because it included important habitat and wetlands and was close to small-lot parcels of land.
Kawana and Marcoola have been named among six potential locations for future desalination plants in south-east Queensland as part of the water commission’s 50-year drought-proofing strategy.
The commission will undertake a detailed assessment of the sites in the next few years to determine their suitability.
Kawana was not among the preferred locations identified by consultants GHD in a draft report prepared for the government late last year.
However, the consultants’ final report reveals Kawana was later added to the list at the water commission’s request and had originally been proposed by commercial interests.
“Following consideration of the draft ranking study, the Queensland Water Commission requested consideration of the additional Kawana site,” the report states.
“The commercial nature of proposed development for contingency water supply warrants further investigation, although this should be done with consideration of other sub-regional options for desalination plant sites.”
The report explains that the government had advertised for proposals for water supply contingency measures, in June 2007, which were evaluated and short-listed.
“Department of infrastructure and planning and Queensland Water Commission are currently working with the short-listed proponents. These include three desalination solutions and two water transportation solutions,” it said.
“Of the three desalination solutions proposed, one is for a land-based facility located on the North Coast at Kawana.”
The water commission said it could not identify the company behind the proposal due to commercial-in-confidence provisions, but said it had adopted the option after the government scrapped its contingency plans.
The GHD report said the Kawana site was not identified as a preferred site in original studies due to a range of factors. These included important habitat, wetlands and proximity to small-lot- size parcels of land.
Member for Kawana Steve Dickson said plans for a desalination plant on the site should be abandoned.
“This is an act of stupidity,” he said.
“If it was suitable I would take it in a heartbeat, but it’s obviously not.
“The government should scrap Traveston dam and get on with building a plant at Bribie Island.
“It’s been identified by their own consultants as the best option, it’s on state government-owned land, it would be cheaper than building the dam and it would provide a secure water supply.”
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Desal plant ‘may affect airport plans’
28 March 2008
Sunshine Coast politicians have knocked proposals to build a desalination plant in Marcoola as they believe it will compromise the future of the region’s airport.
Member for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson and Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot both said yesterday that the proposed location of the desalination plant in Finland Road was too close to the Sunshine Coast Airport and could affect the much-needed upgrade of the east-west runway, as well as plans for future aviation-related businesses.
Ms Simpson said the desalination plant should be built closer to Brisbane.
“I do believe another properly planned desalination plant in South-East Queensland is necessary to climate-proof the region’s water supplies and to stop the devastatingly destructive Traveston Crossing dam, but I believe it should be located nearest to the greatest population growth, which falls between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane,” she said.
“I don’t believe building a desalination plant on a site which could compromise fixing the Sunshine Coast Airport and impacting related regional aviation industries is the right answer, and (it) smells of bad planning.”
Suggestions by water commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy yesterday that the desalination plant and the airport could co-exist didn’t wash with Ms Simpson.
Ms Nosworthy told Mr Abbot the Tugun desalination plant on the Gold Coast was next to the Coolangatta Airport and about 120 metres from the tarmac, and a similar scenario could occur at Marcoola.
But Ms Simpson said the airport would still need the surrounding land for aviation-related businesses.
“The east-west runway is critical and so are aviation industries; they haven’t given any consideration to this and there is not a lot of land around here,” she said.
Mr Abbot was concerned the state government “chose not to discuss these issues with local authorities”.
“It is consultation by press release,” he said.
He was optimistic that meetings yesterday with Premier Anna Bligh might lead to better consultation in the future.
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Peregian desal plan scrapped
17 JUN 2008
The Queensland Government says Peregian, on the Sunshine Coast, is no longer being considered as a potential site for a desalination plant.
Deputy Premier Paul Lucas says the Queensland Water Commission has found the Peregian site to be the least favourable of the six potential sites it identified for a desalination plant in its draft south-east Queensland water strategy.
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