Pumping draining coffers

TOWNSVILLE ratepayers have already spent nearly $ 350,000 pumping water from the Burdekin Dam.

Townsville City Council started pumping from the Burdekin Dam, in combination with Trility and SunWater, on November 13 when the Ross Dam hit the 15 per cent trigger point.

The latest figure, provided by the council, put the average daily cost of pumping at $ 35,000 a day.

The council has budgeted just over $ 5 million to cover the cost of pumping water from the Burdekin until the end of the financial year.

Townsville Water and Waste general manager Scott Moorhead said the infrastructure was able to deliver up to 130ML of bulk water a day. Latest figures showed 119.6ML of water was delivered in the city on Tuesday.

The Ross Dam stood at 14.91 per cent yesterday.

Mr Moorehead said the council had rights to 10,000ML of high priority water from SunWater, which was expected to be sufficient to supplement reserves in Ross River Dam.

Mr Moorhead said the volume of water pumped to the dam would vary depending on evaporation and rain.

“It’s important to understand that even with the pumping, up to a third of the 130ML pumped will be lost through evaporation, meaning the level in the Ross Dam will continue to fall,” he said. “As a consequence we need to continue carefully monitoring water consumption and keep water restrictions in place until it rains and the drought breaks.”

Mr Moorehead said Level 3 restrictions would need to remain in place.

The pumped water will travel more than 36km from the Haughton Channel, near Giru, before making outfall in the head of Ross Dam.

It will then have to travel a further 5km before it reaches the main body of water in the Ross Dam.

Mr Moorhead asked residents to remain waterwise to ensure the city stuck to its water consumption target of 100ML a day.

A council spokesman said during the first week of pumping, the average daily consumption was 104ML a day.

“The council encourages the community to remain vigilant around water usage,” he said. “It’s important that everyone in the community plays their part to conserve water.”

The pumps last ran between November 16 last year and January 15 this year.

The pipeline was established in 1988 to provide a back- up to supplies in times of drought.