Cost shift is in pipeline
JUST when we thought it was safe to stop thinking about water, or the lack of it; BOOM – finding and funding a reliable water supply for Townsville is back in the headlines.
Many experts, retired and otherwise, detailed what was best for our city, but in the end the pipeline prevailed.
Not that the Water Security Taskforce report commissioned by Townsville City Council was adhered to – the steel pipes recommended for the job were ignored for ones made of glass-reinforced polymer, in South Australia of all places.
Sure, a local company got to make components, but why ask for recommendations only to ignore them?
So after major lobbying and finally getting $100 million from the state and a promise of $200 million from the federal election winner for a pipeline, here we are now, with yet another report.
Out this week, there are 1100 pages that someone thankfully summarised to a more palatable 12, the gist of which was: “Do we really need to be building stage two of the pipeline concurrently with the first?”
We’ve been told it will save us $55 million if done now, but hey, “it could actually be postponed for 15 years, because we have a much better idea”.
I imagine ratepayers like myself thought a fabulous engineering feat that somehow reduced the cost and increased the efficiency of the operation had come into play.
Gravity?
Hydro?
Not so fast, fellow garden waterers, car and boat washers.
Instead of undertaking the expensive operation to build part two of a pipeline that promises water security for decades, they’ve got another idea that puts the onus back on, guess who?
We, the ratepayers.
The report dutifully informs us that almost everywhere else operates under a user-pays water system, and that if it was to be introduced here, the flow-on effect would be that there would be a reduction in the use of water. Problem solved.
Perhaps they can trot Jamie Durie out to explain how “user pays” works to us nuffies?
The revelation that if ratepayers are made to pay for each drop of water they won’t use as much has made the Federal Government baulk at the promised $200 million funding for stage two, seemingly pulling the rug out from new local MP Phillip Thompson, who fought for this as part of his election campaign.
Our allocated water system is surely a boon for Sunwater and our cash-strapped council. With no rebate for the majority with allocated water we pay for and don’t use, and only a minuscule proportion of the population switching to the user-pays system, someone’s winning somewhere.
In 2016, documents from 1978 were discovered that detailed a gravity-fed pipeline from Burdekin Falls Dam was Townsville’s best option, but due to the costs of the initial outlay, the plans were shelved in favour of a cheaper pipeline.
Did city leaders back the wrong horse – ratepayers hit with ongoing pipeline power and maintenance costs over a government-funded gravity and hydro option?
The Federal Government is now wavering because the cheapest solution is crystal clear.
No surprises, folks – looks like it’s we, the ratepayers.
PERHAPS THEY CAN TROT JAMIE DURIE OUT TO EXPLAIN HOW ‘USER PAYS’ WORKS TO US NUFFIES?