Pipeline blame game

Politicians trade insults over water project

TOWNSVILLE City Council has denied suggestions it will have insufficient treatment capacity to cope with extra water to be sourced from the Burdekin Falls Dam during drought.

It comes as city leaders trade insults over the delivery of a new pipeline meant to overcome shortages when the Ross and Paluma dams start to run dry.

Debate on water reemerged this week with revelations more stringent water restrictions were looming after a lacklustre wet season.

Water for Townsville Action Group has questioned the city’s treatment capacity, suggesting the city’s main treatment plant at Douglas could treat only 130ML a day when a new pipeline could deliver well over twice that amount.

“There’s no talk from TCC of prioritising a new treatment plant. Our preference is to bypass Ross Dam because it loses so much in daily evaporation,” the group said on Facebook.

Acting Mayor Mark Molachino said the council was spending $27m upgrading the Douglas plant, while a council spokesman said the plant could treat more than 180ML a day when required to meet demand.

The city’s northern treatment plant can treat about 40ML a day, while Mr Molachino said the city’s demand could reach as much as 240ML a day.

Federal MP Phillip Thompson has written to Mr Molachino asking for an update on stage 2 of the Haughton Pipeline project, saying he understood water would not be pumped “for years to come” and the GST issue on which the state government rejected federal funding in 2020 was “no longer a concern”.

Mr Thompson also claimed

Mr Molachino was misleading the community by characterising a delay in stage 2 as “a personal failure on my own part”. The two politicians traded insults on Facebook this week with Mr Thompson accusing Mr Molachino of “playing silly political games” and Mr Molachino claiming Mr Thompson was trying to shift the blame for failing to deliver funding for stage 2.

Mr Molachino told the

Bulletin that two new clarifiers were being developed at the Douglas plant and the Haughton Pipeline stage 2 was on track to be completed by the end of 2024 with commissioning in early 2025.

Ross Dam is at 48 per cent capacity and Paluma Dam is at 57 per cent. According to the council’s water policy, restrictions progressively ramp up from 40 per cent.

The council is also investing $20m renewing a pipeline between Ross Dam and the Douglas Treatment Plant.