Annastacia Palaszczuk rejects recycled water call

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government has rejected cheaper option of adding recycled water to southeast Queensland’s drinking supply.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with Deputy Premier Steven Miles on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government has rejected adding recycled water to southeast Queensland’s drinking supply and approved a new multibillion-dollar desalination plant.

State cabinet on Monday approved plans to build a new desalination plant north of Brisbane to boost the region’s drinking supply amid rapid population growth and forecast shortages.

Residents are expected to face an increase of at least 15 per cent to their water bill to cover the cost of the new desalination plant, which has been estimated to cost between $4bn and $8bn.

Senior government sources confirmed work on a business case would begin soon for the proposed plant to determine its viability and confirm a more accurate cost estimate.

The plant would need to be operational by 2035 to meet demand and will accompany another, largely unused desalination plant on the Gold Coast.

Government agency Seqwater, which supplies drinking water to ­millions of residents, warned the government in December that an alternative source was needed a decade earlier than predicted because of population growth and new climate change modelling.

In its report, considered by cabinet on Monday and yet to be publicly released, Seqwater floated the ­permanent use of recycled water in the region’s drinking supply as well as a new ­desalination plant.

The recycled water option would have been largely cost-neutral because of the existing $2.5bn Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme, built by Peter Beattie’s Labor government during the millennium drought.

Multiple sources have told The Australian Ms Palaszczuk preferred the desalination plant, to avoid the politically volatile debate about recycled water ahead of next year’s state election.

Ms Palaszczuk last year said she would drink recycled water “if the experts say it’s safe”.

A government source said the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme would only be used as a “back-up” during severe drought.

The scheme, an under-utilised network of ­treatment plants, was largely placed into care and maintenance in 2013 and has never been used to supplement drinking supplies but provides some water for industry.

Under current policy, the recycled water scheme would be turned back on if dam levels hit 60 per cent, and used to supplement drinking supplies at 40 per cent.

On Monday, the Southeast Queensland water grid was at 68.9 per cent, down from 81.3 per cent in early January.

Mayors across Queensland last year backed a push to expand the use of recycled water.

A motion urging the state government to “look at additional uses of recycled wastewater” was passed, 215 votes to 15, at the last Local Government ­Association of Queens­land conference.

The latest Seqwater Water Security Program, updated every five years, is expected to be released within weeks after new modelling forecast the region’s water grid could drop to 50 per cent by next September, triggering mandatory restrictions.

The long-term water modelling, handed to Brisbane City Council last month, warns levels could fall to 60 per cent by January 2024 and 50 per cent by September.

Australia is bracing for an El Nino summer, bringing hot and dry conditions after three consecutive years of La Nina-induced rain.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Laura Boekel said on Monday that severe weather will peak between October and April.

“What that means for Queenslanders is that we can expect to see more heatwaves and higher fire danger ratings as well,” she said.