Water official backs Stage 2

TOWNSVILLE City Council’s key water officer has come out in support of Stage 2 of the Haughton water pipeline project, saying it will increase reliability of supply and not leave ratepayers out of pocket if fully funded to a previously costed proposal of $195 million.

Scott Moorhead, general manager of Townsville Water and Waste, was speaking after a separate business case summary, released this week, put Stage 2 at much higher cost, flowing into an 8 per cent hike in residential bills.

Mr Moorhead said the Townsville Water Security Taskforce provided its recommendations for a Stage 1 and 2 pipeline, providing $55 million in savings if built together, after months of detailed technical investigation, input from water experts and all three levels of government.

Mr Moorhead said Stage 1, now being built, was a 35km pipeline from the back of the Ross River Dam to the existing Haughton irrigation channel, which would enable sufficient water to be drawn from the Burdekin Falls Dam. It also required the building of a Haughton pump station and the upgrade of the Haughton channel, which would not be required if Stage 2 were built.

Stage 2 involved extending the pipeline another 35km to

THIS WILL MEAN THAT THE PIPELINE WILL CONNECT DIRECTLY TO THE BURDEKIN RIVER AND NOT BE RELIANT ON IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE SCOTT MOOREHEAD

the Burdekin River at Clare.

“Stage 2 is required for longer-term water security and will increase the reliability of supply, and extract the total water required from a dedicated source controlled by council,” Mr Moorhead said.

“This will mean that the pipeline will connect directly to the Burdekin River and will not be reliant on the irrigation infrastructure.”

Mr Moorhead said, apart from savings, the council would not be reliant on the Sunwater-controlled irrigation channel, and the competing interests of irrigation supply would not be interrupted during channel maintenance, while Stage 2 would also provide more reliable and cleaner water that would be cheaper to treat.

“The costed proposal put forward for Stage 2 to both sides of politics during the federal election was for $195 million to fully fund the project,” Mr Moorhead said.