We would dump dam plan: Coalition
Published 5 May 2008

A desalination plant powered by renewable energy and a greater emphasis on household self-sustainability would replace the controversial Traveston Crossing Dam under a Queensland coalition government.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg and opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Fiona Simpson have unveiled the coalition’s water policy for south-east Queensland.

The region has some of the nation’s toughest water restrictions, with residents asked to use less than 140 litres per day.

The opposition said its ClimateProof plan would bring water security to the region sooner, and more cost effectively - saving $800 million in infrastructure costs.

Under the plan, a $1.19 billion desalination plant would be built at Bribie Island, in Brisbane’s Moreton Bay, powered by renewable energy.

A coalition government also would launch a 15-year $1.5 billion Eco Home scheme to help households install rainwater tanks.

It estimates households could harvest 60,000 megalitres of rainwater a year - close to the total current water use of the Gold Coast.

Ms Simpson said these two measures would see the government’s controversial proposal to dam the Mary River, near Gympie, north of Brisbane, scrapped.

Environmentalists, farmers and indigenous groups oppose the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal, which the federal government is due to examine mid-year.

Ms Simpson told reporters in Brisbane that the Bribie Island plant would provide 125 megalitres per day of water by 2012.

“The Traveston Crossing Dam, according to the deputy premier, isn’t due to have meaningful yields until 2013 and that’s one of the major problems with the government’s plan,” she said.

“They don’t have water security despite spending $9 billion on the water grid.”

The coalition has not outlined what renewable energies would power the plant, but says this will be announced and costed before the election.

The policy also does not detail the household rebates.

Mr Springborg said too many tanks were “basically ornamental” and rebates would be offered on technologies that make better use of rain.

“Up to 30 per cent of all households in south-east Queensland will be able to take responsibility for their own water needs by catching their own water supply,” he said.

The plan also does away with the need for recycled drinking water, which in 2006, Mr Springborg infamously claimed could turn male fish into females.

He did not repeat the claims on Monday, but said he preferred recycled water for use in industry, agriculture, power stations, or as “last resort” drinking water.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokeswoman Amy Hankinson said the group supported the desalination plant, provided it was powered by renewable energy and impacts on marine life were minimal.

“The opposition’s new urban water policy has shown that there are better, more reliable solutions … than the unpopular Traveston Dam,” Ms Hankinson said.

Save The Mary River spokesman Kevin Ingersole also welcomed the plan to dump the Traveston Dam, saying desalination was a “no brainer” for the region.

The coalition will launch a water policy for the rest of Queensland before the state election, due in less than 18 months.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas says the Queensland coalition plan to scrap the Traveston Crossing Dam will not deliver enough water to the growing south-east.

Mr Lucas said the new policy was short on detail, and without the Traveston Crossing Dam and recycled water, also left the region short of drinking water by 65 megalitres a day.

“It’s a higher cost, lower water policy,” he said.

“What they want to do, have a separate … (recycled water) pipe system for industrial use. That is ridiculous.”

Green group backs Qld Opposition’s water plans

5 MAY 2008

Conservationists have backed the Queensland Opposition’s water policy for the state’s south-east.

The Coalition plan includes incentives for households and businesses to “harvest” rainwater, a determination not to use recycled water for drinking and scrapping the Traveston Crossing Dam in favour of a “green-powered” desalination plant on Bribie Island.

Amy Hankinson from the Australian Conservation Foundation says a desalination plant is not the ideal option, but it is better than a dam.

“The Opposition has recognised that there are a range of alternatives that are more sustainable than Traveston Dam,” she said.

“A desalinisation plant will be less of an environmental disaster than the Traveston Dam but it has to be powered on 100 per cent renewable energy and impacts on the marine environment must be minimised.”

The Government says desalination would provide less water than the dam.

But Kevin Ingersole from the Save the Mary River Coordinating Group says the Government has over-estimated the dam yield.

“Not surprisingly, I am totally in favour of the policy that’s been announced here today by the Opposition,” he said.

“I congratulate them on doing the figures before they came out with the policy.”

 
Coalition plan to scrap dam is savaged

7 May 2008
By Carolyn Tucker

The state government has attacked the Opposition’s plan to ditch the Traveston dam in favour of a desalination plant at Bribie, claiming it would be a more expensive, less effective solution to the south-east’s water woes.

But the proposal – announced as part in a package of measures to secure water supplies – has been backed by conservationists and anti-dam campaigners.

The coalition’s water strategy included $1.5 billion over 15 years for incentives to convince households to install rainwater tanks and stormwater harvesting devices.

Businesses and developers would also be asked to take up stormwater harvesting, and recycled water would be used only by power stations, industry and irrigators.

The Opposition said its policy would shave $1 billion from the government’s long-term strategy to drought-proof the region.

However, infrastructure minister Paul Lucas claimed it would provide less water at a higher cost due to the energy required for desalination.

“Up to 300 megalitres a day would be taken out of the system by what they’re suggesting and that would be a substantial reduction in water security,” Mr Lucas said.

“If they are not going to add purified recycled water to the dams they also need to explain how they plan to deliver it to large-scale industrial users.”

Mr Lucas said Mary Valley residents would miss out on substantial economic benefits if the dam project was scrapped.

Sunshine Coast Environment Council has backed much of the Opposition’s strategy, particularly plans for a water-innovation fund, which would help developers move towards more decentralised systems.

SCEC manager Ian Christesen said building the dam was stupid.

“At least with desalination, it can be scaled up or turned off – it doesn’t have to be in use all the time,” Mr Christesen said.

Save the Mary Valley Action Group said it was madness to flood fertile agricultural land close to Brisbane when desalination offered a quicker and more reliable alternative.

“On the numbers I’ve done, the dam is a dog and they will never be able to extract the amount of water they say they will,” spokesman Kevin Ingersole said.