By Jenel Hunt
While being self-congratulatory about the Southern Downs Regional Council’s newest water project to install new bore pumps at an old Rosenthal Shire Council bore site and to construct corresponding transfer pipelines, Councillor Andrew Gale has admitted to wishing for better news for Stanthorpe.
Officially named the Cunningham Alluvium Borehole Transfer Pipeline, the nearly $2.9 million project includes new bore pumps and raw water pipelines at Lyndhurst Lance (Warwick) and Allora to supplement Warwick’s water supply by both improving the ability to respond to severe drought and provide an alternative supply to reduce direct potable consumption during normal seasons.
During a long and enthusiastic speech in Council Chambers last week, Cr Gale was positive about water in every way but one.
“I’m very excited about this,” he said. “When we came together as a council three years ago we were in the middle of drought and were carting water. This is part of delivering something that I’m sure most of us campaigned on when we were running for council – to secure our water moving forward.
“Warwick now has a further source of significant water supply. Water from the two bores has the capacity to supply one-quarters of the entire water supply for Warwick, Allora and Yangan daily.
“When we add this to the new pumps at Leslie Dam, access to the dead storage water at Leslie Dam, upgrades to Connolly Dam pipelines, additions to our recycled water networks as well as the upcoming smart water installation in Warwick, this means that we are now in a much better position to survive the next drought. The addition on top of that of the Wivenhoe pipeline will add another level of security.
“In all sincerity, I wish I could say the same thing about adding water security to Stanthorpe and the Granite Belt. Every day I hope to hear some good news in relation to this.
“I know my fellow councillors and our staff are working hard on this. I take this opportunity to call on the State and Federal Governments to prioritise this project and move it forward. The Granite Belt needs this now.”
Cr Gale thanked the staff at the Southern Downs Regional Council for their work on the proposal and also thanked the State Government for the funds to do the project. Funds were made available under the Drought Resilience Package (DRP).
But Cr Sheryl Windle said the thanks should go further back than that.
“I want to make mention of our previous Director [Infrastructure Services] Seren Mckenzie who did a mountain of work to overcome a lot of issues during the drought and bringing forward a lot of ideas for water security. So it did start way back then,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Cr Ross Bartley said that while the district was in drought, he and the Mayor had identified that the bore field could supply one major industry, considering the allocation it was allowed.
“We have to be mindful we have an allocation we can’t take beyond that. Given that we have that allocation, I’d like to make sure that we use that allocation and pump them regularly, because I was part of the council that basically decided not to use them. And that was the end of the bore field because once you stop using an irrigation bore – which they are – they actually clay off and do not yield. And I speak with a relative amount of experience on that,” he said.
“I’m glad we’re going to pump them regularly to the treatment plant because they were historically known as the Rosenthal bores of the Rosenthal Council and they were well utilised in past … and I think it’s a credit to our staff to recognise they were a resource we had sitting there unused and now we’re putting them back into use. The intent is great and I know they’ll require a little extra treatment because it is bore water and even though it’s alluvial it’s always been a little bit difficult to treat and was always thrown into the too-hard basket. But I’m sure with our dedicated staff that it will be used to the best advantage of our community.”
The pipeline and bore will allow the transfer of the Cunningham Alluvium bore field water entitlement to the Warwick Water Treatment Plant for use in the Warwick supply grid. The pipeline will connect the existing borehole near the Condamine River along Lyndhurst Lane to the existing Leslie Dam transfer pipeline along Warner Street to the south. The Allora component will be on a smaller scale, with a pipeline connecting to an existing standpipe, with provision for future connection by others.
The successful tenderer for the job was Newlands Civil Construction Pty Ltd with its bid of $2.878 million.
