Join the P&F
In regards to the recent article regarding Warwick State High School and safety of students and other issues. If you like me are concerned with what is happening with the current students at the High School and want to do something about it to make a change for the better then please come and join the P&F of the High School. This is the largest high school and the only public high school in our area with over 800 students and it greatly affects our entire Warwick community what happens to the students who go there. We need more parents and concerned citizens to be represented at the meetings to make change. Please don’t just talk about it and instead get involved and try to do something. For those who have already come forward thank you for leading the way. To those that have not these people and the students and staff of the school need your support. Meetings are usually every last Wednesday of the month at 6 pm. Help make a difference in this school and in turn in our community.
Anonymous, Warwick
Dear Dam Brigade
I agree with the suggestion made in your letter last week.
We do need, as you stated in your letter, “a detailed business case for water security” on the Granite Belt.
The Council has a strategy to “Develop and implement a Water Security Strategy for the region to guide decision making for future drought and extreme events.” [Strategy 6.2]
This is part of the SDRC Southern Downs Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2021.
It can be found on the SDRC website.
You sound like you might have some excellent ideas and possible contacts to help promote this discussion within the Southern Downs. It is certainly needed considering the two major droughts we have had in the last 20 years.
To initiate the discussion, I would like to put one suggestion forward.
Rainwater tanks attached to every residential, industrial, commercial and government building on reticulated water for use in the building, eg toilets & laundry.
The Council has already successfully passed this process for new buildings. Now we need it for every building.
There would be a saving of 30% to 50% of Stanthorpe’s annual water consumption from Storm King Dam if every residential, industrial, commercial and government building on Stanthorpe’s reticulated water system had a 10,000 litre [2,200 gallons] tank attached to the building [inside use only]!!
This is based on 3,500 buildings at 500mm/pa rainfall. [65% of Stanthorpe’s mean annual rainfall of 767mm]
That investment would create a part of a real business case for water security and flow into the ongoing years. If those living in rural areas without reticulated water can do this, then we in town can do it.
My thanks to the Dam Brigade for initiating this community conversation about water security on the Granite Belt. Looking forward to some of your suggestions.
Brian Gibbons
Look at the costs again
Before any more money is wasted on Emu Swamp Dam I’m of the opinion the overall costs should be looked at again as time changes everything. Not only is this water going to be the most expensive irrigation water in the country, the total construction costs have grown to $100,000 per usable megalitre which is around 30 times what it costs to construct a farm irrigation dam, what’s more farm fams don’t cost the tax payer.
Quite a number of growers have stopped growing or stopped growing certain crops not because of the lack of water but low prices, so I can not see how a dam and more production will fix this problem, this over production and low prices are not confined to this district, southern growers are complaining about low prices and the price of water, incidentally the price southern growers are paying for water is roughly 1/3 of the estimated price given for Emu Swamp.
Proponents of Emu Swamp dam should take a close look at what is happening in the Macleay catchment with dams being built for hydro power, a bigger and better dam could be built around Gorge creek downstream from Emu swamp that could not only provide irrigation water but as my engineering friend pointed out it could produce 100Mw of hydroelectricity during peak demand. Unlike other renewables hydro power stations provide permanent employment, another advantage of hydro power is the rate payers won’t be left with a massive bill to dispose of windmill blakes and solar panels in 15 years’ time, I hope our Council considered this when giving the green light to these projects.
John Salata, Glen Aplin
Community engagement encouraged
I am enjoying the dialogue between Mr Gibbons and the Emu Swamp Dam Brigade [ESDB] as it has played out over the past few weeks. Now I am drawn to agree with both of them and observe that the Granite Belt is in dire need of a healthy and open dialogue focussed on how to deliver long term and sustainable water security for the Granite Belt. Perhaps what is not currently clear in the discussion so far is that the region does not have such a strategy at present. As Gibbons notes, this absence is acknowledged in contemporary council planning and policy statements. So, I support ESDB & Gibbons’ suggestion of the need for a public and community discussion.
This is a community wide issue, and the community should be demanding a contemporary and independent review of its future water needs in light of the changing demographics, economy, and climate trends of this region. If $165 million of taxpayer funds are to be committed to building a puddle in a swamp, we should at least be confident that such expenditure provides a sustainable solution for the future water needs and that the whole of the Granite Belt community is the beneficiary. This is currently not evident in current proposals.
Ken Waldron, Ballandean
