Page 1547 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 June 2007
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I was interested to see that Dr Foskey even mentioned a report from Actew on the absolute worst-case scenario—the stage we would get to if we had to close up shop in Canberra because we had become like some US prairie town when the water ran out or like Fatehpur Sikri in India, where effectively the water ran out, the court had to move and a big city is now just a very interesting historical site in the desert.
That, of course, is the proposal. Even to do desalination down at the coast and push the water up here, probably into something like Googong dam as storage, is incredibly expensive. It might be pie in the sky, but if we continue to suffer the ravages of climate change in a way where we get very little, if any, rain, something like that becomes a real possibility. We are at crisis.
Dr Foskey: It is a way of keeping the sea-level down!
MR STEFANIAK: I thought the sea level would rise due to climate change and global warming. There are all sorts of issues that need to be looked at here, starting from very basic things like how we can do things better as individuals in our household, encouraged by the government—and there is not much of that occurring—through to the wider issues of just how we secure our water supply: what steps do we need to take to ensure adequate water for our population and the necessary growth we need to have in the ACT and the region?
This is a timely motion. It is worthy of a select committee. It is too important to send over to a hardworking committee. Perhaps the government wants to do that just to duckshove this most important issue and have it lost in a plethora of work that that very busy committee has to do.
I encourage members to vote for Dr Foskey’s motion and my amendments, which I foreshadow. I indicate that, because we think that the committee is the correct way to go, we will be opposing Mr Corbell’s amendment.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (11.20): Clearly there are important issues raised in this motion brought by Dr Foskey to the Assembly. I commend her for bringing it on today. As we have heard, currently there are three main water treatment plants operating for Canberra: Googong and Mount Stromlo water treatment plants for drinking water treatment and the lower Molonglo water quality control centre for waste water treatment. Additionally, there is the smaller Fyshwick sewage treatment plant, the north Canberra water reuse facility and the Southwell Park sewer mining facility for treating wastewater that Minister Corbell has already mentioned. That water is then recycled for watering recreational areas such as sports ovals and golf courses.
There are some differing views in the community on how we should be using our water and how we should store it. Some of the terms of reference in Dr Foskey’s motion are being inquired into at the moment through the Water2WATER expert panel, but several other issues raised in her motion should be looked at. One is water use. And, as outlined in the motion, there are the likely impacts of climate change on water resources available to the ACT, the extent to which demand reduction strategies
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