Chambers Flat strawberry farmer calls for water recycling as drought declared in Logan

A Logan strawberry farmer has turned off her irrigation system and says her bore water supply will run out in two months.

Parts of Logan, including Buccan, were drought declared more than two years ago.

A Logan strawberry farmer is calling on the local council to do more to recycle waste water so farmers can use it for irrigation.

Chambers Flat strawberry farmer Laura Hendriksen said she had turned off her underground irrigation system to save water over summer and because the strawberry season was about to end.

She was speaking out after the state declared Logan and seven other council areas as drought affected this morning.

Noosa, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Redland, Gympie, Sunshine Coast, and the Fraser Coast are all now declared drought stricken.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk added the eight to the state’s drought list, taking the total number to 45, or about two-thirds of the entire state.

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Mrs Hendriksen urged Logan council to speed up plans to build a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant nearby to help farmers with irrigation.

Laura Hendriksen of the Chambers Flat strawberry farm said her water supply would run out by February.

In May, Logan council announced it planned to buy 40 hectares of riverside land at Chambers Flat to build a sewage treatment plant which would also recycle water to be sold for irrigation.

Mrs Hendriksen said her property was on bore water but she estimated that without rain her supply would dry up by February.

“Because we don’t have any elected representatives or elected people in council with a depth of knowledge about our farms in Logan, we have had no help from the council recently,” she said.

“I don’t know if we will get any government funding to tide us over until we get rain.

“All councils need some sort of water recycling system as the technology is there now to get it to A-grade water which we would be able to use for irrigation.

“There had been talk of the nearby waste water treatment plant processing water so we could use it but because there are no councillors nothing has been decided.”

In November, the council said it was not going to declare a climate emergency but said more than 1.5 hectares had been razed by bush fires.

The council said it was a state responsibility, and not local councils, to call for water restrictions.