Water restrictions ease in Townsville after pipeline to Paluma dam fixed

A key piece of infrastructure that was damaged in landslides during the wet season has finally been fixed. Here’s what it means for water restrictions.

Damage to the northern pipeline done during the 2024-25 wet season.

Water restrictions are officially ending as work to repair one of the key pipelines supplying Townsville has been repaired.

More than six months after it was damaged in wet season landslides, the northern pipeline was officially recommissioned last week.

Townsville had its wettest start to the year in a long time with the city receiving more than 2m of rain between January 1 and the end of March.

February was the wettest on record for any month, with Townsville Airport receiving almost 1.2m in rain. This is more than four times the February median rainfall.

The pipeline, which supplies 15 per cent of the city’s daily water usage, repairs were funded under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said work to reinstate the critical piece of infrastructure had been underway since March.

“With more than 6000 tonnes of landslide debris moved, 85 metres of road rebuilt and a critical pipeline repaired, the scale of this project off the back of the record-breaking weather event at the beginning of the year was simply massive,” Cr Greaney said.

“I am pleased to announce that Townsville is officially no longer on medium-level water restrictions.

“The community assisted council through the focus on conserving our precious water resources during this time and council extends it thanks.”

Flood pictures from Townsville during the wet season. Picture: Townsville City Council

The city was placed onto medium level water restrictions due to the damage to the pipeline, which connects Paluma Dam to the Northern Water Treatment Plant.

While much of the repairs were completed above ground, with crews moving the landslide debris off the seven-kilometre access trail to allow workers access to the pipeline, specialist dive crews also had to be brought in to recommission the intake structure that feeds the gravity-fed line.

“This project has had a lot of moving parts. Initial estimates were we’d be able to have the pipeline back in action in four to six weeks, however due to the sheer scale of the landslides and damage to the access road, the project proved to be more complex and time consuming,” Cr Greaney said.

“We’ve had terrific contractors on the job, allowing our crews to focus on the more than 6700 emergency works orders from the record-breaking weather event around our city.

“The water intake structure seven kilometres up in the Paluma range had more than 100 tonnes of sand and debris clogging it, which was a serious operation in itself to get back online, but the dive team and Trility got in and got the job done.”

Division one councillor Paul Jacob said while the northern pipeline was now back online, Townsville’s water use shouldn’t increase dramatically due to the cooler winter months.

“We typically see a drop in water consumption during the cooler months as people’s lawns go into dormancy and don’t grow as much,” Cr Jacob said.

“While the recommissioning of this northern pipeline takes us off medium-level water restrictions, we urge the community to remember that we do live in the dry tropics and to continue being water wise.

“Council encourages water conservation measures year-round, given 70 per cent of our city’s water usage is used outdoors on lawns and gardens, it’s important we are using this precious resource efficiently.”

Originally published as Water restrictions ease in Townsville after pipeline to Paluma dam fixed