Proposed water security plan for the area will cost $150 million for the first 10 years
Councillors will meet on Wednesday to discuss the future water strategy for the Northern Rivers. This is what we know so far, and how much it it will cost.
Lismore
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The current version of the Water Future Plan 2060 ‒ which Rous County councillors will discuss this week ‒ would cost $150 million for the first 10 years.
The plan is to bring new groundwater sources online as additional primary supplies, by “revamping the Alstonville area’s existing groundwater supply scheme, and developing a new groundwater scheme in the Tyagarah area”, the report stated.
“In addition, new bores will be constructed and connected as part of the Woodburn area’s existing groundwater supply. This will provide a greater level of resilience in the event of a drought emergency.”
Stage one of the plan — 2021 to 2025 — will see investigations commence into “how to overcome the barriers to using purified recycled water for drinking purposes – whether via indirect potable reuse or direct potable reuse”.
This included plans to build a pilot treatment plant and direct potable reuse scheme that can supply purified recycled water to the Perradenya Estate near Lismore.
According to a report prepared for Rous councillors and made public on Friday, the total cost of the plan to secure water for the area was $154,180,000 for the period 2022 to 2031.
The report includes costings for possible projects at Marom Creek ($15 million), Alstonville groundwater ($30 million, including $2.7 million for new bores at Woodburn), Tyagarah groundwater ($45 million), groundwater source land acquisition ($17 million) and half a million for disposal of the land that was going to be used by the Dunoon dam project.
Other items in the list refer to demand and water loss management.
Most of the estimated expenses are dated between 2023 and 2025, with more than $20 million spent each of those three years, and then again in 2028.
In comparison, the 50-gigalitre Dunoon dam project was estimated to cost $220 million in the first ten years. That project was removed from the plan in December 2020 by Rous councillors.
Why is this needed?
Rous’ general manager Phil Rudd said the council was required to adhere to a best practice framework that required it to have a long term strategy.
“Within NSW we have local water utilities, and they are any organisation that provides water or waste water services to the community, like Rous,” he said.
“Local water utilities are required to have an Integrated Water Cycle Management Strategy (IWCM), a document that looks into the challenges the area is facing versus the water usage is per household, and what that will look like in the future and the infrastructure available,” he said.
“And a solution proposed by professionals may not work or be endorsed by your community.
“The IWCM brings those things together, and if the water is not secured for the future, it makes you question what are the possible solutions available, while balancing cost, the environment and the community for the best outcome for that region.
“These assets cost millions and millions of dollars to build, but they also have very long lives, and can be in existence for hundreds of years, and that’s why you need to ensure you get it right, because if you don’t, that could have long term consequences for your community.”
The new plan received more than 13,000 submissions of community feedback during its exhibition period.
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