Published Thursday, 18 January, 2007 at 04:46 PM
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure
The Honourable Anna Bligh
QLD OPPOSITION AT SEA ON WATER
18 January 2007
South-East Queensland already has an independent body overseeing the region’s water supplies and security, Acting Premier Anna Bligh said today.
Ms Bligh said the Opposition’s call for an independent review of regional water supplies was clear evidence of their ignorance of water issues in the state.
“The Queensland Water Commission was established in June last year – after receiving bipartisan support in the Parliament - as part of the agreed strategy with local councils to secure future water supplies in the south-east.
“The Commission is constantly monitoring the levels and inflows into our major dams and factoring this data as well as the progress of projects in the Government’s emergency water regulation in their contingency modeling.
“The Commission utilises information on water storage levels from the storage owners themselves, as any other reviewer would do.
“The level of Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams, is independently calculated by SEQ Water, rather than the Government.
“SEQ Water utilises industry best practice in relation to its methodology for monitoring water quality, current dam levels and forecast dam levels.
“The Commission publicly reports its assessment of the progress of key water projects and measures identified in the regulation and their impact on the region’s water supplies every month on its website.
“Dam levels are also publicly reported.
“The Opposition leader has to look no further than SEQWater’s own website for a daily update on the levels of the main dams it operates – Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine.
“The Commission works closely with SEQWater and other local water authorities on the region’s water supply outlook and is continuing to examine ways to improve the water security of our region.”
Ms Bligh said the Government had already taken decisive action to secure the south-east’s water supplies.
“Our planning is based on the worst case scenario – the worst recorded inflows into our dams,” she said.
“We have put into action a comprehensive range of measures to secure our region’s water supplies in the face of the worst drought on record which has seen our major dams drop to record low levels.
“We are creating new sources of water through desalination and recycling that are not reliant on rainfall.
“We are building a network of pipelines to link these new water sources and existing ones to move water around the region to where it’s most needed.
“We’re also working with households, business and industry to reduce water use.”
Media contact: Steve Keating 3224 4379
South-East Queensland already has an independent body overseeing the region’s water supplies and security, Acting Premier Anna Bligh said today.
Ms Bligh said the Opposition’s call for an independent review of regional water supplies was clear evidence of their ignorance of water issues in the state.
“The Queensland Water Commission was established in June last year – after receiving bipartisan support in the Parliament - as part of the agreed strategy with local councils to secure future water supplies in the south-east.
“The Commission is constantly monitoring the levels and inflows into our major dams and factoring this data as well as the progress of projects in the Government’s emergency water regulation in their contingency modeling.
“The Commission utilises information on water storage levels from the storage owners themselves, as any other reviewer would do.
“The level of Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams, is independently calculated by SEQ Water, rather than the Government.
“SEQ Water utilises industry best practice in relation to its methodology for monitoring water quality, current dam levels and forecast dam levels.
“The Commission publicly reports its assessment of the progress of key water projects and measures identified in the regulation and their impact on the region’s water supplies every month on its website.
“Dam levels are also publicly reported.
“The Opposition leader has to look no further than SEQWater’s own website for a daily update on the levels of the main dams it operates – Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine.
“The Commission works closely with SEQWater and other local water authorities on the region’s water supply outlook and is continuing to examine ways to improve the water security of our region.”
Ms Bligh said the Government had already taken decisive action to secure the south-east’s water supplies.
“Our planning is based on the worst case scenario – the worst recorded inflows into our dams,” she said.
“We have put into action a comprehensive range of measures to secure our region’s water supplies in the face of the worst drought on record which has seen our major dams drop to record low levels.
“We are creating new sources of water through desalination and recycling that are not reliant on rainfall.
“We are building a network of pipelines to link these new water sources and existing ones to move water around the region to where it’s most needed.
“We’re also working with households, business and industry to reduce water use.”
Media contact: Steve Keating 3224 4379