HINTERLAND WATER WAR
A CONTRACTOR wants to take about 17 million litres of water a year from three bores on his own property near Springbrook National Park and sell it to corporate giants.
But Hinterland residents are steaming over it.
Residents say the extraction will ruin waterways in the area.
However, the land owner says: “The greenies are making out we are doing some catastrophic type damage, which we are not”.
A CONTRACTOR wants to take about 17 million litres of water a year from three bores on his own property and sell it to corporate giants — and Hinterland residents are steaming over it.
Graeme Hoffmann has lodged a development application with the Gold Coast City Council to extract the water, less than 700m from the world heritage-listed Springbrook National Park. He says it will be sold to bottled water companies and used for local delivery.
Mr Hoffmann’s property shares the same road as two other commercial water extraction sites, one of which is owned by soft drink giant Coca Cola-Amital.
The multinational company came under fire four years ago for having unrestricted access to the region’s water supply. Residents were concerned about the impact on the area’s famous creeks and waterfalls.
Ceris Ash, from Springbrook Wildlife Appreciation Group, has blasted the new proposal, saying the region’s water supplies were already at maximum capacity. “We are now at 130,000 litres being extracted a day and this development could see up to 200,000 litres a day that should be going to Hinze Dam and the water streams. Instead it is going to bottled water,” Ms Ash said.
Mr Hoffmann’s application proposes water being extracted at up to three bores and dispensed into both large and small water trucks. It proposes 16 truck movements to and from the site each day, operating six days a week.
Local councillor Glen Tozer said council officers had highlighted a number of concerns with the application, including the impact on the environment, roads and local residents.
He said he had also asked the Queensland Government about possible breaches of state water extraction laws.
Mr Hoffman, who also owns a commercial drilling company, said that while the application was for unrestricted water use he intended to extract about 56,000 litres per day.
He said the amount of water extracted from the water basin would not have an affect on the nearby environment.
“We had a hydrogeology study and Coca Cola did a study a number of years ago. Both of those studies confirmed the amount of water taken is a drop in a bucket compared to what is actually under the ground of the mountain,” he said. “The greenies are making out we are doing some catastrophic type damage, which we are not. The council have been very vigilant (and) we are trying to address their concerns as best we can.”