Traveston Dam/ Mary River Issue

Overview:

• In an effort to resolve metropolitan Brisbane’s water concerns, the Queensland government has been looking to create a dam at the Mary River
• Landowners wrongly told that their properties would be compulsorily resumed (around 900 people have been directly affected)
• Further backlash after the Government announced that it had not been approved federally

A few comments...

A couple of quick comments:

#1. Check out this article by Tuck Thomson at CM from October 23, 2006. Its basically blaming Queensland’s government for not recognising that there was an issue earlier.

This really irks me. In 2002, my grade 11 geography class undertook our own ‘feasibility study’ of options for water solutions for the farmers in our region, and came up with two: either recycled sewage pumped from Brisbane, or desalinating sea water pumped from Brisbane. These weren’t rocket science solutions.

“Now southeast Queensland faces the prospect of running out of drinking water by 2009 unless the recycled water pipeline is built in two years.”

*sigh* if we knew in 2002 what we know now. Oh wait. We did...

#2. I watched Landline this weekend, and an interview with PM John Howard on Australia’s water crisis. Silly move Jess. I spent all of the 20 minute segment yelling at the TV.

Just for the record (so you know my stance on this one); I don’t think that its viable to pump water from the inland (declining) sources of artesian water to boost the limited levels of water in our major cities.

Major city = close to coast
Coast = beach
Beach = ocean
Ocean = water (salt)
Water (salt) + desalination = water (fresh)

Half empty?

A pocket cartoon from this week's Australian.

Enjoy.

Courier Mail: 'Beyond Zero'

The Courier Mail has a collection of stories, articles and perspectives on the water issue. Check it out here at 'Beyond Zero'. Below is the introduction spiel to 'Beyond Zero'. A pretty damn good overview of the situation on the whole.

Have we left it too late to respond to southeast Queensland's water crisis?

"Sure, level three water restrictions are in force, we cannot use hoses on our gardens, and buckets and watering cans are the go. But water restrictions are the tip of the iceberg in what needs to be done to ensure our dams don't run dry by September- October 2008.It is estimated that even with water restrictions in force, the region needs to find another 640 megalitres of water every day so that our dams don't fall below 10 percent capacity.Some 500 megalitres of that water needs to be found before September 2008.The problem is, the region is still struggling to find it.

The State Government, councils, and water agency SEQ Water have a plan to deliver 13 projects to give us the required water. Projects involve recommissioning old reservoirs, drilling for water, using recycled water in industry, getting us to use water saving devices at home and piping water from areas where it is more plentiful, such as Redlands. Almost half this water will come from a desalination plant that will give us 120 megalitres per day, and 110 megalitres from fully treated sewage recycled into dams. However, there is concern that the desalination plant will not be ready before the dams run dry, and the community may be loath to accept treated recycled sewage as part of the water supply.

Some of our political leaders believe we may have left it too late to guarantee our supply.The figures are based on us continuing to experience the sparse rainfall in our catchments areas similar to that which fell from April 2004 to March 2005.

On our quest to avoid level zero, our saving grace could still be rain, plenty of it.

Also, The Queensland Water Comission has just released the guidelines for Level 4 restrictions. Check them out here. The Queensland Water Comission is definatly something that I need to look into; a Water Comissioner was appointed in the last three or so months (from memory, she has a background in law, and lectures at UQ, but has no idea about the sector... I remember hearing it on the news and being concerned...hmm...)

Aaand now it starts to reach the consumer...

Food Prices Hit by Brian Williams and Clinton Porteous
(CM: 16/10/06)

PRICES of basic food items such as eggs, milk and meat are tipped to rise on the back of the nation's worst drought in a century.Retailers, farmers and the business sector yesterday warned consumers to brace themselves for the flow-on impact of a massive 60 per cent fall in the nation's grain harvest.

The grain crop disaster has sent shockwaves through the dairying, chicken, pig and beef industries, all of whom rely on grain as feedstock.

AgForce chief executive Brett de Hayr said Australia, long one of the world's major grain exporters, had actually reached the position where it was looking at importing grain.

Mr de Hayr said it had never been economic to import because of the high cost of treating grain for pests.
But with prices at a 15-year high, importing was starting to look viable.

"Never before in our history have we had to contemplate the wholesale importation of basic food commodities, however that scenario could eventuate," Mr de Hayr said.

"The drought is no longer just a farmers' problem."

Southeast Queenslanders could soon feel an impact in the hip pocket as the drought starts to bite on food prices.
Coles spokesman Scott Whiffin said retailers were concerned. "All the feedback we're getting from suppliers is that the drought has hit really hard," Mr Whiffin said.

"We're watching but we don't know yet how it will translate. It's really tough on the eastern seaboard and the southwest corner of the continent."

With Commerce Queensland president Beatrice Booth calling for urgent help for farmers, Prime Minister John Howard is expected later this week to announce a major extension to his drought relief package.

It's expected about $750 million will be tipped into the sector over four or five years, with the Government prepared to pump more money in if the drought worsens.

Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said the nation faced unprecedented times.

"We've reached the end of the line. We have to . . . come to the assistance of farmers," he said.

The relief package will make it easier for farmers to receive household income assistance, similar to unemployment benefits, as well as interest rate subsidies.

The stockmarket has reacted to the drought with a long list of agricultural stocks ranging from fertiliser and cattle companies to the Australian Wheat Board all falling in value.

Australian Egg Corporation managing director James Kellaway said the cost of wheat contracts had jumped from $180 to $310 a tonne. This translated to a rise of 20¢ to 30¢ per dozen eggs.

"At current egg prices, we will not be able to compete with flour millers and other end users of grain," Mr Kellaway said.

--

Looks like we could very easily be targeting the Food Industry as a key segment for a project.

As a second note; I'll look to have a consolidation of points at the end of each month; just so it isn't pages and pages of ranting.

Finally! Recognised at a national level!

Very much linked to my previous post on drought declared zones, check out the following two articles (I've highlighted the key points for any skim readers out there):

PM pledges extra drought relief
(The Australian on October 13, 2006)

PRIME Minister John Howard says the government will do everything it can to help farmers through the drought. Mr Howard said the government would look at "finetuning" the exceptional circumstances drought assistance package next week. It also would consider whether other regions should be declared to be in drought. "The government at a federal level will do all it reasonably should to help Australia's farmers through this drought," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting today. "If they need more assistance they will get it. "Obviously we won't throw money away but farmers can rest assured where they are entitled to assistance they will get it."

Mr Howard said the implications for farmers were enormous and the implications for the nation also were significant because all Australians strongly identified with the bush. "When the bush is suffering we feel it," he said.
"I would expect this drought to leave a very big impression on the Australian psyche."Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday warned Australia was looking at a rural recession, with the situation facing regional areas set to worsen.
Mr Howard said it was absurd there could be a surplus of water in north-eastern NSW and a water crisis in south-east Queensland. "I think state borders should be obliterated when it comes to water,'' he said.

"Any political leader who stands in the way of the obliteration of state borders when it comes to water is not serving the national interest. "The problem is the allocation of water by nature rather than the aggregate supply.''
Mr Howard said today the government would do all it could to help farmers worst hit by the drought. "We do have a responsibility to make certain that the assistance is given where it is needed and we are, as a high priority, looking at, and I'll be having a discussion with a number of my ministers next week about this (assistance)," he told Macquarie Radio.

"They're ready for a discussion now to see whether there are some aspects of the drought rules that should be further relaxed. "The government pays more than 90 per cent of the relief through the exceptional circumstance provisions."
"As areas remain in drought, the exceptionable circumstances (scheme) will be extended. Where areas not now in drought should be declared, then they will be declared," Mr Howard said. "I just want farmers to know that they are not alone and their fellow Australians, through the national government, will be there to help them."

Mr Howard would not comment on whether Australia's rural sector was in recession, saying only that the drought was a "hammer blow" to farmers. He said the state of the nation's rural areas would be taken into account when the Reserve Bank weighed up whether or not to raise interest rates. Mr Howard said the drought did not alter his view on whether Australia should sign the Kyoto agreement, but it did underline the fact the world has a problem with climate change. "I don't think it alters my outlook on Kyoto, but it certainly emphasises that the world does have a problem with climate change," he said.

''(But) bear in mind, Australia's contribution is minuscule and also bear in mind that unlike many countries that have signed up to Kyoto, Australia is likely to meet, or go very close to meeting, her obligations under the Kyoto protocol."
He said Australia needed to look at ways of reducing carbon emissions. "I think we do need to, as a nation, look to new ways of contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but we shouldn't be so foolish as to image if only we had signed a bit of paper a few years ago we wouldn't have a drought," Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard stopped short of calling it the worst drought in Australia's history, but conceded it was dire. "(It's) the worst in a century, the records before that were a little less precise," he said. He said Australia had to do more at a national level to improve water issues and he said the federal government would collaborate with the states to solve the water crisis.

Drought package to fight rural recession by Steve Lewis and Selina Mitchell
(The Australian: October 13, 2006)

STRUGGLING farmers will be paid drought assistance for longer, and the number of regions eligible for financial support expanded, under a Howard government rescue plan for the bush. Cabinet will sign off on the package - expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars - in coming weeks after the federal Government was handed a new high-level report showing irrigation catchment areas in worse shape than ever.

Peter Costello yesterday declared a "rural recession" amid fears deteriorating farm conditions would wipe billions of dollars from the national economy. The human cost of the drought was also brought into sharp focus with the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Christopher Pyne, warning of a jump in suicides as farmers struggled to survive.
Under the rescue package, farm communities will be able to receive drought assistance continuously for up to 18 months.

This will ease the emotional stress of having to reapply for money, sometimes as often as every five months.
The maximum period at present is 12 months, but this will be increased to between 15 and 18months.
Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran is also expected to recommend the number of drought-declared regions be expanded beyond the current 65. The measures will add considerably to the $1.25 billion that Canberra has already spent in drought assistance.

Under the package, farmers get Centrelink welfare cheques and other emergency money, including for animal feed, and relief on interest payments. Federal ministers have upgraded their warnings about the drought this week, and the Treasurer yesterday said Australia was facing its worst drought. It is understood the new report handed to Mr McGauran shows that catchment areas are far worse off than previously thought. It is believed to show that even heavy rain in coming months would be insufficient to provide adequate irrigation for many areas.

This will add to the urgency for the federal Government to act as it faces a tough 12 months to the next election.
In his most alarmist language to date, Mr Costello said the bush was in recession after a contraction in farm sector growth during the June quarter. "It's a rural recession," the Treasurer said.

And Australia was facing another year of "terrible" drought, with forecasts of above-average summer temperatures.
"Farm production fell markedly in the last quarter and we could be looking at recession in terms of farm production, that is farm production going backwards," Mr Costello said. Recent estimates of falling farm production and incomes from the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics have revived memories of the 2002-03 drought, which dragged gross domestic product down by one percentage point that year, as gross agricultural product fell 28.5 per cent.

Although farms make up only 3.5per cent of the economy, a Treasury analysis shows that drought results in a sharp fall in exports, agricultural income and employment. Mr Pyne said the drought would place "a lot of pressure" on rural families. "So suicide is going to be very much an important issue in the months and years ahead," he said, as he announced $32.7 million in funding for suicide prevention.

The extended dry has led to record stock sales across the country, as farmers rid themselves of sheep and cattle they can no longer feed or water. In sale yards in Victoria, volumes are up 60 per cent on last year, and in NSW the number of sheep on sale is up 70per cent on last season. A record 67,000 sheep were sold in one day in Wagga Wagga last week, bound for the abattoir.

Australia's food bowl, the Murray-Darling river system, is in its sixth year of drought and suffering record low inflows. Dam levels are lower at this time of year than ever before and irrigators face their lowest allocations. The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has completed a dire analysis of the environmental and production impacts of the current and forecast seasonal conditions - and it says the prospects for a better season next year are low. Meteorologists suspect a late-season El Nino is developing, adding to the fears large swaths of the country are heading into an unprecedented drought.

--

Would be very interesting to ninja a copy of said water-doom-argh report to McGauran... very interesting.
An as a random side note.
Our federal agriculture minister, Peter McGauran, actually knows who I am. Way cool.

Drought Declared Zones

A government department (that I've never, ever heard of) called the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority have a list of regions that have been deemed to meet the Exceptional Circumstances Drought Declaration, which enables primary producers from these areas to receive government support.

East Burnett (All producers excluding citrus and sugar cane producers)
South Burnett (All producers excluding citrus and sugar cane producers)
Upper Brisbane Valley (All producers excluding citrus and sugar cane producers)
Central Coast (All producers)
Central Mid-West (All producers)
Central Darling Downs (All producers)
Northern Darling Downs (All producers)
Southern Darling Downs (All producers)
Emerald (All producers except cotton & horticulture irrigators)
Hinchinbrook/ Thurinowa (All producers except sugarcane producers)
Mackay/Whitsunday (Beef and dairy producers)
Murweh (All producers)
North West Ashy Downs (All producers)
Peak Downs (All producers)
South West Queensland (All producers)
Stanthorpe/ Inglewood (All producers)
Sunshine Coast (Livestock producers)
Western Downs/ Maranoa (Livestock and crops)

So, these are the areas, that the government has realised that primary producers can no longer support themselves purely by running, or working on a farm.

Water Supply Levels

The above table was from South- East Queensland Water; a very, very clear statement on how the dam levels that feed into Brisbane are currently at.

Concerned?

Should be.

Water Restriction Alignment?

Water Rules Revealed by Tuck Thompson (CM: October 13, 2006)

BUCKET watering will be limited to certain hours on alternate days after November 1 and business users will face tighter rules under level 4 water restrictions finalised today.Water commissioner Elizabeth Nosworthy today spelled out the final details of the south-east corner's level four water restrictions, which focus heavily on government and industrial users in 12 council regions.

Under the limits, businesses using more than 20 million litres of water a year will by April 30 next year have to submit plans to save water. The plans will have to include measures that either cut water use by 25 per cent or achieve industry best practice.

Businesses using between 10 and 20 million litres of water a year will have until July 31 next year to submit their water saving plans. By June 30 next year government agencies and businesses using between one million and 10 million litres a year will have to install water-saving devices, such as more efficient taps and trigger sprays. Operators of air-conditioning towers will have until June 30 next year to submit water saving plans. A range of small businesses, including car washes, nurseries and swimming pool operators, will also have to submit water saving plans. ``It is time for business, industry and government agencies to change the way they use water and value water both in the immediate term and forever,'' Ms Nosworthy said.

``The commission has ensured a balance between achieving required water savings and the need to minimise the impact on business, employers and other non-residential users.'' For consumers, Level 4 restrictions mean people who live at odd-numbered premises will be able to water only from 4-8am or 4-8pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Even numbered homes will be subject to the same hours on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Outdoor watering is banned on Monday. Pool owners who top up using city water will be forced to install by June 30 three of the four water-saving devices:

- A four star-rated washing machine
- Dual flush toilets throughout the house
- A pool cover
- Showers and tap heads converted to water-efficiency.
The commission expects the level 4 restrictions will save 20-50 million litres a day.

--

I know that councils are being pressed to define restiction levels, but for the life of me, I can't track down a standard explaination of the levels of water restrictions; what is involved in level 3 restrictions compared to level 4, and is this aligned nationally? Even across our regional areas?

Welcome

It’s well overdue; a new blog devoted to water, created for three reasons:

a) A place to record current media activity, events and discussions that influence me
b) Somewhere to form my own ideas, and capture my learning on the issue
c) To rescue my original blog from being drowned in water rants

Since all the awesome water cliché blog addresses were taken, we’re all just going to have to deal with the highly hyphenated ‘keep-treading-water’. At least for the time being.