New water pipeline links Broken Hill to Murray

The inland NSW city of Broken Hill will today be connected to the mighty Murray River, 270km to its south.

The last of the pipes are laid near Broken Hill

The inland NSW city of Broken Hill will today be connected to the mighty Murray River, 270km to its south, with the completion of a taxpayer-funded $467 million pipeline designed to provide the city and its 20,000 residents with reliable and safe drinking water.

NSW Water Minister Niall Blair will lay the last of 22,000 pipes completing the pipeline, which many locals have already condemned as a waste of money.

Mr Blair said last night that only two years ago the city had nearly run out of drinking water because of its reliance on the unreliable outback Darling River, with children suffering green hair and skin infections after washing in water pumped from the last dregs of the Darling River and Menindee Lakes.

He said the project had already created 150 local jobs and injected $35m into the local economy.

“This is an exciting day; we are giving the people of Broken Hill the guaranteed water security that they have a right to have, and that they need to grow as a community,” said Mr Blair, who expects the first Murray water to flow into town in December. “This is an essential investment for Broken Hill; it’s not just about having quality drinking water from a reliable source for the first time but also having enough water for gardens to grow and dust suppression within the town.”

Mr Blair also allayed fears that the pipeline would lead to higher water prices for ratepayers as the government tried to recover the capital cost of its pipeline investment and pumping charges.

Mr Blair guaranteed that water prices for residents would remain static, with his government prepared to bridge the pricing gap caused by the pipeline’s construction. But many residents remained suspicious about the motives behind the pipeline’s rapid construction in the past year. There were also questions being asked about why the water capacity of the pipeline was a huge 37.4 megalitres a day, when Broken Hill uses less than 15ML/day.

Broken Hill Mayor Darriea Turley was suspicious there were quiet plans to develop a vast new mineral sands mine to the city’s south.

“We want to make sure our lakes still have water for recreation and fishing, that the tourists still come, the Darling River still runs and the local Barkindji people can still have access to a flowing river as they have for thousands of years,” Ms Turley said.

Sheep farmer Rob McBride said the pipeline had been rushed through without the support of any of the four local councils, residents or environmental impact statements and approval.