South East Queensland Water Strategy - Have Your Say!

SEQ Water Strategy
50 Year Vision or Blind Faith?

NOTE: The submission period has now ended. To read Queensland Conservation's detailed submission or the executive summary please use the following links:

 QWC Submission 197.99 Kb 

 QWC Submission Summary 71.16 Kb 

You can read the Queensland Water Commission’s (QWC) draft 50 year water supply strategy on the QWC website at www.qwc.qld.gov.au/SEQWS Public submissions ended on the 31st July.

Queensland Conservation has set out a guide to make our water supply sustainable in this article and produced a formatted submission for you to send if you prefer. 

Queensland Conservation doesn't believe that QWC fully understands the key to SEQ's water supply problems. Reduced rainfall due to Global warming will lead to decreased overall water availability. Combine this with increasing population and we cannot expect to even get close to returning to the water wasting ways of our recent past.

The main points that Queensland Conservation believes should guide the QWC ‘s strategy are summarised below. Our reasons for emphasising these points follow. We invite you to use these points in your submissions to the QWC.

Alternatively you can download a formatted letter here with our main points, make your own additions or changes, then sign and lodge with the QWC.

Key concerns:

Population Growth

Unsustainable population growth will adversely impact across a whole range of services and conditions in the SEQ region. It is inappropriate to plan for a projected 6 million people in the region without taking into consideration all the impacts which will affect water supply. This has not been done. QWC should propose a whole of government approach to population management and participate in a public inquiry to establish the carrying capacity of SEQ before setting any long term plans. Once determined, a regional water use cap should be set.

Water Consumption

The SEQ community has responded to the water crisis by reducing its water use to less than 140 litres per person per day. This is comparable to the water consumption of most Western European communities with a similar standard of living. It is not an extreme level, as portrayed in your document. We live in a region in which rainfall is projected to decline as a result of climate change, a region with a fluctuating and seasonal rainfall pattern. Consumption levels should be set according to these circumstances. Water resources should be used according to need, not fluctuate with dam levels. Current water consumption habits need to be embedded. I urge you to retain the 140 litre per person per day target as a permanent maximum level.

Water-Wise gardens and Community open space

Gardens and community open spaces are very important to the community, but most gardens are not designed for our climate and need additional water. A QWC strategy should be about developing a new direction in garden design which encourages native and drought resistant gardens, not simply perpetuating watering of inappropriate gardens. Any increased water allocations should be used to support local food production and assist the growth of community gardens across the region.

The Water-use Hierarchy

Water is a precious resource and should be treated as such. The QWC strategy should establish a water-use hierarchy. Saving water, being water efficient at the top, followed by water re-use and recycling. Desalination should only be considered after these options and as an emergency option. Dams are too destructive and, as acknowledged by QWC, unreliable water storages.

Zero Emission Infrastructure

All water infrastructure should be zero emission. In part, the SEQ water crisis has been caused by climate change. Infrastructure, designed to drought-proof the region should not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Background

Planning for how many?

QWC and the Government are planning for a projected population of six million people in SEQ by 2050. The vital question – which QWC and the Government seem unwilling to ask - is ‘can SEQ support six million people without destroying our environment and our quality of life?’

Imagine what they are planning for - the tripling of our population in just 40 years, which means a lot more urban sprawl, more roads, more traffic congestion, stretched to breaking point essential services, longer supermarket queues and further destruction to SEQ’s already degraded environment.

We believe this key question must be answered BEFORE we start locking in actions that provide just for SEQ’s water supply alone.

We say- Establish a public inquiry to examine the population carrying capacity of SEQ - as a first step towards establishing SEQ’s long term sustainability

Conserving for the future

Conserving water and using it according to need is by far the most economical and best environmental solution to meeting SEQ's future water requirements.

QWC has spent millions of Queensland's tax payer dollars on public education programs to reduce domestic water consumption to below 140 litres per person per day. QWC is now suggesting that, despite being ‘world champion water savers’, - a somewhat offensive turn of phrase given the plight of many in the third world - that SEQ residents relax their water consuming habits and be allowed to use 230 litres per person per day under their strategy.

In other words allowing over 100 litres per person per day more than current consumption.

If members of the community want to use water on gardens or for other outdoors use, they should be encouraged to use a rainwater tank or grey water reuse system.

However, our gardens and community open spaces are very important to maintaining community well being. Part of the QWC vision should include transforming private gardens and public open spaces to be less water dependent, by using native and drought resistant species.

Local food production is becoming increasingly important due to rising fuel prices. There is a need to introduce licensing systems that can provide additional water supply for the production of food and growing of native vegetation that provides a wide public or environmental benefit.

We say - 140 litres per person maximum daily consumption should be retained. We need to use our water resources according to need, not just because SEQ dam storages are above a given level at any point in time.

A new silver bullet

It appears that QWC no longer considers that dams are a viable long term option in supplying SEQ water needs - we agree. But the 6 proposed desalination plants featured in the QWC strategy seem to be QWC’s new ‘silver bullet’ providing for SEQ future water requirements

According to the QWC, we can relax as desalination will provide our future water requirements and more. The fact that desalination is costly, potentially harmful to the environment and will add considerably to atmospheric greenhouse gas levels appears to have totally escaped their attention

Despite QWC’s admission that dams are not a viable long term supply option they have retained the proposed Traveston Crossing and Wyaralong Dams in their calculations. It seems odd that a government entity is on one hand publicly stating the proposed dams are necessary, whilst on the other admitting these dams are unviable long term by proposing that desalination plants will best deliver SEQ’s future water requirements.

Consequently, billions of Queensland tax payer dollars are likely to be wasted, causing unacceptable and irreversible degradation to the environment and iconic threatened species should the dams be built.

We consider that desalination could be a part of South East Queensland’s future water supply, but only after the following:

• we have determined the population level our region can sustain
• we have embedded our current water consumption habits across SEQ
• we have ensured that urban developments, agriculture and industry users meet worlds best water management practice
• we are recycling and reusing wastewater throughout SEQ

We say - Once we have these measures in place - and if it’s still thought to be required – we can duly consider desalination as a supply option.

Greenhouse Gas emissions

Adding up to 6 desalination plants to the already energy intensive SEQ Water Grid, means that QWC’s strategy will dramatically increase atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Exacerbating Queensland's already dismal performance as Australia’s primary greenhouse polluter.

We say – the QWC strategy must aim to be carbon neutral by incorporating and delivering meaningful steps to avoid, reduce and mitigate greenhouse emissions, as part of establishing SEQ’s long term sustainability.

How to Have your say.

Visit the Queensland Water Commission website  - Here -  and  fill in the feedback form using the points above as a guide.

Download the preformatted submission Here (Word document) make any changes or additions sign and post to:

Queensland Water Commission
PO Box 15087 City East 4002 

Or download the submission copy the text, paste it into an email and send to:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it