$5m to design water pipeline

CONSTRUCTION of a 105km underground pipeline to transport non-potable water from Burdekin Falls Dam south to Bowen has taken a further step forward with the announcement of a $5m grant under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.

The pipeline, which starts at Home Hill and moves south to Bowen, generally followed the brownfield road reserves of the Bruce Highway, and would allow the creation of a reliable, secure water supply to Australia’s largest winter vegetable growing area.

It would also provide water to existing and future agriculturalists, schools, the aquaculture industry, businesses, and the Bowen town.

Member for Dawson George Christensen said the funding would go towards the development of a detailed business case for the pipeline.

“The Bowen pipeline is something that many people and many locals will know about. It’s been talked about for yonks – ever since they built the Burdekin Dam,” Mr Christensen said.

“They are going into the planning, the costs, making sure the water that is supplied is going to be viable in terms of price, but the proponents believe it all does stack up at the moment.

“This is the serious number crunching that needs to be done before you bring a project forward, you need to make sure that you’ve got all the right costs, that you’re ensuring that whatever the capital costs are, that it doesn’t completely and utterly flunk when it becomes operational because the costs are too high.

“There will be a lot of local construction activity that goes on and I know the community is looking forward to that.

“From about Inkerman and back down to Bowen, what’s going to happen is about 40,000 hectares of cropping land will be opened up for irrigation and that’s important because it means more local things get grown, more local jobs get created, and more local money is pumped into the regional economy.

“One of the things they are going to get out of this is detailed design, and you need that before you start building.”