IS WATER TOO PRECIOUS TO PROFIT FROM?
As Tamborine Mountain State School ran dry this week, commercial water mining has come into focus
THERE are dollars, and then there’s sense.
With Tamborine Mountain State School running out of water this week, the fact the Government was forced to pay for emergency bottled supplies from probably the very companies that helped run the bore dry is beyond comprehension.
Even worse, there seems to be no way to stop this water mining. Currently, three commercial operations, including Coca-Cola Amatil, have approvals to extract roughly 2.5m litres a week from the Gold Coast Hinterland.
Tamborine is not connected to southeast Queensland’s water grid and residents rely largely on bore and tank water supplies, which are rapidly running out.
Indeed, with limited water supplies in its own bore, Tamborine Mountain State School advised parents on Wednesday to send children to class with extra water bottles.
To provide relief, the
Department of Education delivered tanker loads of water to the school for the remainder of the final week – tanker loads of water sourced from the drying mountain itself.
While community group Save Our Water Tamborine Mountain called on Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham to use emergency powers to stop water mining and prioritise local supply, the Government says it is not within its power to limit commercial operations, even if students are literally parched.
“Groundwater is not regulated on Mount Tamborine and so my department does not have the power to limit take,” said Mr Lynham in a statement.
“I do have the power to limit take in a declared water shortage – but that is everyone’s take, including local farmers, households and businesses.”
The only hope is for the companies themselves to have enough good corporate citizenship to suspend operations while the community suffers through drought conditions.
Personally, I think we’d have more luck performing a rain dance.
Meanwhile, locals are swallowing a bitter pill knowing that if they want water, they must pay the companies for their own groundwater.
“The school bore has been operating since the school was there,” said resident Craig Peters. “There’s many other bores that have run dry. We are the largest community in Australia that doesn’t have reticulated water. If it doesn’t rain, people get water trucked in to fill their tanks.
“Now the Government is buying water back from CocaCola to bring here, which is where it came from in the first place.”
While Mr Lynham says research shows groundwater extraction has minimal effects, it is his own government that is warning Queenslanders at this very moment that “every drop counts’’.
And yet, there is no way to prioritise locals’ needs over companies’ demands.
It is a fact acknowledged by Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen.
“There is no legal recourse for council to require water suppliers to provide additional water for local use. Once a development has been approved, it may continue to conduct the use indefinitely as approved,” he said.
It’s not just Tamborine residents who are opposed to water mining.
The Gold Cost City Council recently refused an application to extract groundwater at Springbrook.
Mayor Tom Tate said the groundwater eventually flowed into drinking water