Cressbrook Dam upgrades: Toowoomba council won’t introduce rebates or changes to restrictions amid 12,000-megalitre drawdown on dam

A plan to release millions of litres from Toowoomba’s largest dam to ensure $270m upgrades can be completed safely won’t include any subsidies or changes to water restrictions for residents.

Toowoomba residents won’t see any rebates or eased water restrictions as part of the council’s plan to drop the level of Cressbrook Dam by millions of litres over several months.

Councillors on Tuesday agreed with officers to rule out a number of potential “community benefits” related to the planned drawdown of 12,000 megalitres from the dam, which is a requirement to safely complete $270m in spillway upgrades by October next year.

In his report to councillors that was requested as part of the original June decision, TRC water operations manager Matt Torr said adjusting tariffs, introducing rebates and reducing water restrictions were all considered and ruled out.

Mr Torr concluded tariff adjustments after the new budget was handed down were against the Local Government Act, while water rebates would not only significantly impact revenue but were also “not likely to result in increased water use”.

Aerial photograph of Lake Cressbrook.

“All options have significant disadvantages due to financial or operational constraints and none are recommended for implementation,” he said.

Mr Torr said the council’s chief concerns related to countering its own 20-year waterwise message by encouraging higher water use, as well as capacity issues if the region started drawing down more than the total daily capacity of Cressbrook.

“Council has been extremely effective in encouraging efficient water consumption from our residents and there is concern with us now trying to get residents to use more water — that is contradictory to what we’ve tried to do over many years,” he told councillors.

“There are also concerns around lasting impacts of any changes to messaging and what it does to our future water security.

“Cressbrook Dam has a fixed capacity and, particularly as we enter the spring and summer periods, we do start to see significant water use from our community and we’re likely to exceed the capacity of Cressbrook Dam and use alternative sources.

“If that occurred, we’re really not achieving the outcome of using water from Cressbrook.”

Mr Torr said recent water network changes like turning off 10 of the region’s 17 bores had increased the drawdown on Cressbrook by up to 4.5 megalitres per day.

The motion comes just a week after mayor Geoff McDonald submitted the business case for the Cressbrook Dam upgrades to Premier Steven Miles, with state funding considered to be the best outlet to deliver community benefits out of the project.