Rescue plan for city water supplies

The Australian

Dennis Shanahan and Verity Edwards
November 07, 2006
URGENT measures to ensure Adelaide and several Victorian towns don't run out of drinking water will be tabled at today's summit on the drought-stricken Murray-Darling Basin.

As part of a $2 billion national water project, there are plans to create new water storages along the Murray in South Australia and build a desalination plant to produce 30 million litres a day.

The summit, called by John Howard, comes as the water shortage crisis in Australia shifts from the availability of water for farmers to providing enough drinking water for cities and towns.

The Victorian Government's proposal targets the centre of the state, with plans to boost drinking water supplies in the region of Ballarat and Bendigo with pipes linking the Campaspe and Goulburn rivers.

There are fears in federal cabinet that the failure of autumn rains next year will lead to an unprecedented drought and water shortages, with dams drying up in April-May.

In another bid to win over regional voters, the Government has agreed to extend drought relief to small businesses for the first time.

The decision, taken by cabinet yesterday, will pump much-needed emergency funds into regional towns. Small business owners, such as harvesters and farm contractors, will be able to apply for the relief, provided a majority of their income is derived from primary production.

The Prime Minister will today outline the drought package, which will build on the $910 million recently announced in further assistance to drought-stricken farmers.

The Murray-Darling Basin last month recorded its lowest ever October inflow of 77 gigalitres, compared to the average 1100 gigalitres.

Mr Howard and premiers Mike Rann, Steve Bracks and Morris Iemma will try today to drastically accelerate the revival of the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Prime Minister said yesterday progress on the National Water Initiative and the aim of pumping an extra 500gigalitres into the Murray was too slow. "The progress with implementing that plan has been slower than I would have liked," Mr Howard said.

He said today's meeting in Canberra with the premiers of NSW, South Australia and Victoria "will be an opportunity for an agreement to accelerate progress" for the basin and discuss the drought.

He said the federal Government and the states had "hammered out" a National Water Initiative three years ago.

"One of the things I will raise with the premiers is accelerating the implementation of the plan that we all agreed on some years ago," he said.

South Australia has previously proposed building a weir on the Murray and using lakes as extra storages as well as building a $100 million desalination plant.

South Australian Premier Mr Rann said yesterday that he would lobby the Prime Minister and other premiers for a reversal of the Snowy Mountains Hydro electricity scheme decision to withhold water for release into the Murray-Darling system.

"There's actually quite a bit of water that's locked up, including behind one dam which isn't even being used for electricity purposes," Mr Rann said.

He said he would put a "whole range of options on the table" regarding water security for people living in South Australian cities and towns, including water storage along the Murray and its lakes and a desalination plant.

"One of the options that's before us is the construction of a weir at Wellington," Mr Rann said.

Mr Howard said the premiers had agreed on "quite a big plan" before and he was considering a $2 billion shopping list from state governments for water-saving projects, including massive pipelines, recycling and desalination plants.

As part of a national scheme of "big ticket" water projects, the West Australian Government is looking at a $617million pipeline from the Yarragadee aquifer to metropolitan Perth, and the Queensland Government has proposed a $500million pipeline in the southeast.

The NSW Government wants to spend $390 million for recycling effluent in western Sydney for industry, park watering and environmental flows in the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers.

Labor environmental spokesman Anthony Albanese accused Mr Howard of playing cynical politics by holding the water meeting on Melbourne Cup day and when the Reserve Bank is expected to raise interest rates.

"The Prime Minister is more concerned about politics than water or climate change," Mr Albanese said.

"The fact is, climate change is cutting water flows in the Murray-Darling Basin right now. In November 2003 the Howard Government promised to give the Murray River 500gigalitres within five years under the Living Murray First Step program. Not a single drop has actually been returned," Mr Albanese said.

Mr Howard rejected Mr Albanese's claim and said the talks were being held on most convenient day.

"It will be on in the morning. Mr Bracks has got plenty of time to get back for the Melbourne Cup," Mr Howard said.

Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said the Government would not be forcing farmers to give up allocated water rights, although he warned of dire consequences if there were no seasonal autumn rains next year.

"We need cool heads and we can't be panicked into making snap decisions on water allocations," he said.

"The Prime Minister is going to work through these issues carefully with the heads of the various states with a direct involvement and responsibility, and we know that even an average autumn rainfall next year won't give the irrigators what they require in 2007 and possibly 2008."

The South Australian desalination plant would provide drinking water and boost the Murray flow. The water would also supply BHP's $5billion Olympic Dam extension.