Water fight as Townsville pipeline report emerges

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill is calling for more information after an economic report by consultants Jacobs indicating the case for Stage 2 of the Haughton water supply pipeline does not stack up. She said she had not seen a full copy of the report, but called on the region's political representatives to not back away the moment 'bureaucracy put up an obstacle' to the water security strategy. "They're claiming (that the $200 million promised for this work will stay in North Queensland). But we shouldn't even go there. We've been fighting for water security for 30 and 40 years. What they need to do is to actually explain properly to the community what is going on," she said. Federal Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson on Wednesday gave an 'iron clad guarantee' that the funding promised for the work would stay in Townsville regardless. In a Facebook update he said he was in urgent discussions on a way forward. "The Jacobs report into Stage 2 of the pipeline has found the project would not provide additional water security, but would increase water rates significantly by 8 per cent. Hitting ratepayers more isn’t an option and I call on Mayor Hill to stand with me on this," he wrote. Construction of the first stage of a new pipeline between the Haughton Balancing Storage and Ross River Dam is underway- the Haughton Pipeline Duplication Project. As part of the Stage 1 project, the existing Sunwater channel would be also upgraded to supply water from the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme (Burdekin River Scheme) to the Haughton Balancing Storage. The Townsville Water Security Taskforce, formed in 2017, recommended that the upgraded Sunwater channel be replaced by a Stage 2 pipeline in 15 years’ time. However, the Taskforce’s final report recommended that, should funding be available, the Stage 2 pipeline be constructed concurrently with Stage 1, in order to avoid incurring capital costs of $55 million to upgrade the channel and associated costs. A business case by Jacobs - revealed today by the Townsville Bulletin - says economic and financial analysis alone do not suggest a compelling case to build this pipeline, although it noted the job creation potential of the works. It found that the combined activities undertaken recently to secure Townsville water supply had been highly effective in reducing the estimated frequency of water restrictions and that the city would have veryhigh water security for at least 60 years. There would be no incremental improvement to water reliability for Townsville customers if the Stage 2 pipeline was constructed, whether now or in the future, it said. It also showed that under a scenario where the project recieved $195 milllion in government funding the work would see residential bills rise by an average of 8 per cent (combination of both fixed and variable water charges) if the pipeline went ahead now. Building it later would likely mean a 12 per cent rise, it said.

Water fight as Townsville pipeline report emerges

Industry Queensland

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