Gympie council speaks on new Mary River basin water plan

Looming changes to water licences across the Mary Basin may have a big impact, but one local councillor is happy it signals the death of another “crazy” plan.

Plans to build a multibillion-dollar pumped hydro plant at Borumba Dam might also provide a solution to changes needed as part of an overhaul to water allocations in the Mary Basin.

Borumba Dam may be at the centre of a mammoth project to transform it into a renewable energy hub, but now the plan might be intertwined with changes to Gympie’s water supply.

Gympie councillors at last Wednesday’s workshop have been told raising the dam’s height might be the solution to changes headed the council’s way as part of an upcoming overhaul of water licences for the Mary Basin.

The basin stretches alongside the river its named after, from the Sunshine Coast to Goomeri and up to Hervey Bay.

The proposed changes involve switching existing area-based entitlements to volume-based ones.

Farmers across the region flagged several concerns about the impact of those changes, including fears their water allocations would be drastically slashed.

Their concerns about the potential changes, and the consultation around them, prompted the state Water Department to extend a deadline for submissions by those affected by five weeks.

The department has said the plan is not intended to reduce the amount of water used by farmers across the basin.

Mary Valley councillor Bob Fredman welcomed the plan as “good news” saying it signalled the end of a proposal to pump water from the Cooloola Coast to Gympie as a way to resolve water security concerns. Exact details of this proposal are unclear.

The plan is likely to force some changes onto the council, with the impact on ratepayers yet to be fully determined.

Bob Fredman, who once served as the council’s head of engineering, welcomed the changes as “good news”, not the least because it signalled the end of a “crazy” plan once touted as a solution to the region’s water concerns.

“Hopefully, it puts an end to our investigations out of Cooloola and pumping it to Gympie,” Mr Fredman said.

“I like to think we never hear of that again.”

Details of that proposal, or how far along any progress had been made toward it, are unclear.

There were other changes which would be wrought by the new Mary Basin plan too, he said.

Councillors were told an extra 4000 megalitres reserved for the council would need infrastructure to hold it.

Councillor Bob Fredman said the potential for Teewah Creek to be monitored under the proposed Mary Basin plan should serve as a “trigger” for the council to start exploring other water source options for the region’s coastal towns.

One solution could lie in the state government’s multibillion-dollar pumped hydro plan in the Mary Valley.

It is understood the pumped hydro plan’s design at the moment will not expand the amount of water supply available.

“To convert that 4000 (ML) reserve to allocation … there needs to be infrastructure to hold it,” Mr Fredman said.

“What we’ve been thinking up to now is a Borumba raising.

“It doesn’t have to be Borumba, it might be something else … if the business case for the pumped hydro goes up there might be discussion … as to whether that dam raising holds the little bit extra that’s needed for us.”

It might force changes to where Cooloola Coast residents draw their water from too.

Mr Fredman said the proposed scheme could involve monitoring of Teewah Creek, which served the Cooloola Coast townships.

“To me that’s the trigger for us to start looking for an alternative water supply for Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove,” Mr Fredman said.

“We may well get caught down the track if they’re starting to monitor flows in Teewah Creek.”

Originally published as Gympie council speaks on new Mary River basin water plan