REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday, July 19, 2007

SOUTHEAST Queensland water supplies could run dry by mid2008, said a water expert.

Environmental engineer and water planner Dr David Lockington said the doomsday scenario would arise if the 2007-08 wet season failed.

He said even with the State Government’s planned recycled water pipeline, if there was no rain, there was no chance.

“I think we are one wet season away from running out,’’ said Dr Lockington, the University of Queensland’s head of environmental engineering.

“You have to remember that if you don’t have any water, there won’t be any waste water going in either.

“Everyone thinks it’s going to rain over summer, it’s what they’re all planning for.

“It’s always a dry winter so they’re going to be hoping for a cyclone over summer.’’

The Bureau of Meteorology said that month’s weather was looking particularly dry, with no rain on the horizon for at least the rest of that week.

The July average was 35.4mm and three weeks into the month, with no rain recorded in the southeast.

Despite hopes that winter would provide some unseasonal rain, the outlook until September was grim, with only a 50 per cent chance of above-average rainfall.

A Queensland Water Commission spokeswoman said the Gold Coast should brace itself to start sharing water with parched Brisbane and the rest of the southeast by January.

“The Hinze Dam will be connected to the Southern Regional Pipeline section of the water grid when it comes online in January, 2008,’’ she said.