SECOND ROUND OF MONTHLY WATER REPORTS RELEASED

Thousands of south-East Queensland households are taking advantage of a Government program subsidising the services of a plumber to install water efficient devices, according to a report tabled in State Parliament today.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure Anna Bligh said the $22 million South-East Queensland Home WaterWise Service – a joint State Government and Council scheme – was proving popular with residents.

“The scheme subsidises the cost of a licensed plumber to visit homes to install a range of water efficient devices such as showerheads and kitchen taps and to also advise home owners about water saving strategies,” Ms Bligh said.

“Normally residents would pay about $150 to call out a plumber to do this work. Under this scheme the cost to householders is $20 – a great incentive to get leaky taps fixed.

“According to the latest monthly water reports posted on the Queensland Water Commission’s website, 17,363 retrofits had been completed as at 30 October which represented an estimated water saving of 365.2ML a year.

“In addition a further 6,637 retrofits have been completed between October 30 and today bringing the total number of households that have benefited from the scheme to 24,000.

“This represents a total water saving of 504ML per year.”

Ms Bligh said 59 plumbers had been employed under the scheme by the end of October.

“A recruitment drive through November has resulted in the employment of a further 27 plumbers who will commence retrofits from Monday,” she said.

“The Government’s emergency water regulation set a target of 75,000 home retrofits under the scheme by 30 April 2007 and 150,000 by 31 December 2007.

“While the project has previously identified that it would achieve 130,000 retrofits by April 2008 measures have been identified to accelerate the program to achieve the targets set out in the emergency water regulation.”

Ms Bligh said the October water reports submitted to the Queensland Water Commission showed projects were progressing along the same lines as detailed in the September reports

“There are no new delays to report. While I am pleased to see the majority of projects remain on schedule, I am concerned that some projects which identified delays in the September reports have not made any significant headway in accelerating their programs to meet the regulated timeframes or targets.

“I will be writing to responsible service providers to either approve the course of action they are taking to meet their obligations under the regulation, or request further work be undertaken to advance delivery where possible or investigate further opportunities to achieve the required water targets.”

Monthly progress reports on the development of Cedar Grove Weir and Bromelton Off-stream Storage are now also being published as part of this process.

The monthly water reports are available on the Queensland Water Commission website http://www.qwc.qld.gov.au

Media Contact: Steve Keating 3224 6900