Act now or city runs dry
IN the 10 months since WFTAG was formed, water security has for the first time been declared by council as the city’s top priority.
The Townsville City Deal Water Security Taskforce ( WSTF) has recommended the Lower Burdekin catchment should replace Ross Dam as our primary water supply.
In his interim report, chairman Brad Webb formally acknowledged the contribution of WFTAG’s volunteer research into this area and unprecedented community engagement.
In the June budget, the State Government committed funding of $ 225 million for stage 1 of the WSTFrecommended infrastructure. This is only half the amount needed for longterm water security.
WFTAG has engaged continuously with politicians from all partisan persuasions at local, state and federal levels. On the national stage, two Federal MPs ( Cathy O’Toole and George Christensen) have mentioned WFTAG in parliamentary addresses, while highlighting the city’s longstanding and unresolved water woes.
All interested parties, including key city stakeholders and the WSTF have been presented with our extensive report and it is freely available publicly on our site ( in FB files).
As Townsville’s landscape continues to deteriorate daily in the face of our water supply problem, levels of frustration are rising in our 13,800- strong Facebook membership and in the wider population.
Good rains will help but cannot replace the urgency for new water infrastructure.
We are suffering through two simultaneous droughts: the first is the recurring cycle of sparse rain; the second drought is fairly and squarely political inaction.
Historical, demographic and geographical data should have prompted proactive government policies that would have minimised the damage due to successive failed wet seasons.
Our parched city has endured the consequences, while other major projects have continually been prioritised, funded and actioned.
WFTAG is launching two new strategies to harness the angst.
The first is a Brownsville online photography exhibition.
Townsville residents are encouraged to submit photographs of their parched environment and living spaces. Content can be emailed to the address below. There are prizes for outstanding submissions, with September 30 the closing date for entries.
The second strategy is to highlight concerns, expressed constantly on our site, about new residential developments being approved at a seemingly unchecked rate, with the obvious question “where will all the water come from?”
Remember, it is council’s legislated responsibility to provide timely trunk infrastructure for developers to access.
Has council updated covenants for developers and contractors to implement best- practice water conservation? If so, what are and where can we view those covenants and when did they start?
Are the numerous current developments compliant?
Last week, WFTAG admin started meetings with developers. Lendlease was first with the largest project at Elliot Springs.
Their latest public promotional video has been looping at the Fairfield Shopping Centre and caught our attention with its vast expanses of greenery in every frame.
We discussed this and other issues and the meeting was mutually informative. We will continue to work with local developers to gain insights into their water conservation expectations and practices.
The $ 225 million in funding provides the growing population with just 15 years of supply ( as well as critical backup we currently do not have in the event of failure of ageing infrastructure).
Doubling that funding through a federally funded grant would guarantee water security for 80 years.
Waiting will see costs soar. Without this to allow stage 1 and 2 to be completed simultaneously, we ( or our kids) could be facing the same problems far too soon.
It’s taken us 30 years to get this far and our community cannot afford to be complacent. There is no guarantee that a delayed stage 2 would ever be funded.
As former Federal MP Eamon ( call me Ted) Lindsay has always believed, Townsville is on the cusp of prosperity.
His tireless lobbying in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a known force that led to construction of stage 1 of the massive Burdekin Falls Dam, taking three years from start to finish.
Our 36.5km duplicate pipeline has taken that long to design and is yet to receive formal approval.
The pictures already submitted for our exhibition graphically lament the Brownsville reality.
The imagery will be compiled into two free, publicly accessible formats – a PowerPoint presentation focused on the micro environmental fallout; and we will also create and share a movie clip from a drone- mounted camera capturing the sad macro views.
The mayor and the premier need to vigorously, publicly and relentlessly lobby the Federal Government to match the $ 225 million – with a grant ( not a loan plus interest).
We’ve waited long enough and paid enough taxes with no result. The Prime Minister’s signature is the third on Australia’s first ever intergovernmental City Deal. Dry ink is not enough to honour the promises in the seminal document, or to convince the Townsville- Herbert electorate that this is a real deal.
Digital photos 300- 500 megapixels can be sent to lindaashtonhome@ hotmail. com