Split on water
MR Mayor and councillors, can we take a look at Stanthorpe town water as a separate issue from agriculture water proposals?
The storage limitations of Storm King have been stated many a time. Urban expansion continues and light industry grows. Mother Nature has been kind these past few years, but El Nino is loitering around the corner. Country residents of the shire and the nation, bathe in, drink and wash the dishes in tank water every day.
A 5,000-litre tank can provide drinking and incidental water. 25,000 litres is a more realistic figure when you plan to run a small to medium household on tank water, using town water as the ‘back-up’. As more become plumbed-in to tank water, every rain shower significantly reduces demand on town supply.
But, if a ratepayer reduces their annual town-water usage by 80,000 litres, their “water bill” reduces by only $100. Ratepayers are offered no subsidy for up-front tank costs, nor a rebate for low water usage. How many kilolitres could be stored in the backyards of a town this size?
As it stands, most of the rainwater from urban downpipes is whisked away in stormwater drains, into Quart Pot Creek and the Severn. So then we would collect it in a dam at Fletcher and pump it back up the hill to town. Where’s the logic in that?
Council only has a Plan A: Gather grants, borrow buckets of money, and construct Emu Swamp Dam.
Some $80 or $90 million, for a combined urban/horticultural reservoir. No-one knows what proportion of the “real cost” of the infrastructure would be paid by irrigators. The interest bill would be staggering. And this is on top of current debt and rate increases!
In a dry country, it makes no sense to whoosh rainwater away down gutters and stormwater drains. That’s where Plan B comes in. Kevin Rowley,
Wyberba.
Remember them
THE Victoria Street War Memorial in Darling Street Allora has the Southern Downs Regional Council deep in thought. They are finding it very difficult to find it worthy of its place in history. The voices of the people have apparently fallen on deaf ears, so there must be a very attractive offer countering history, someone with plans so lucrative, too painful; to refuse.
They need more time to dim the hopes of those objectors, so another month should serve them well to announce their sell-off if that is their choice. Does it not amaze those who pay the enormous salaries of these servants of the ratepayers, what little say people have in what is of value to them?
Melba Morris,
Allora.
Rubbish talks
DEAR Ratepayers of the Sothern Downs Regional Council.
My name is Donna Nevin. I have recently had talks with council, both on 23 and 24 June, before the final decisions on rates.
The plan I gave was to “simply” halve the bin pick-up e.g. green bin every two weeks and the recycle bin “yellow” every month. People put out half empty bins or not at all. Others overload the green bins with recyclables flowing over. A meeting with the CEO was had on 1 July. This strategy alone would save us “all” $5-$6 million dollars per year. This would help pay the $31 million deficit and also provide a “flood and disaster” support.
This council offered pay rises and the mayor forgot. This council will in fact drive us all away.
Donna Nevin,
Killarney.
Easy to see
ANYONE with average intelligence can see that increasing traffic fines have had little effect on motoring deaths. Due to travel costs there have been fewer people travelling on the highways but the road toll keeps rising.
In the last 10 years there have been several rises in traffic fines, but they haven’t curbed the road toll. If fine were the cure-all the government thinks they are there would be fewer fatalities. I have to conclude that traffic fines are for the purpose of lining the government’s pockets, and they have deep pockets.
More speed cameras, both fixed and mobile, won’t curb highway fatalities but channel more money from motorist to government, which is the obvious intent.
Is there anyone who can suggest a workable solution to the road toll? Perhaps there is no fix for the problem, and like death and taxes, escalating road deaths will become an acceptable part of life.
God help us if we ever have to suffer driverless cars because who then will be held responsible for the multiplying road fatalities?
Jay Nauss,
Glen Aplin.
