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Thursday May 24, 2012

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North-south pipe to lie dormant

Posted by: 3AW Radio | 15 November, 2011 - 8:53 AM
The north-south pipeline (Image: Joe Armao, The Age)

The $750 million north-south pipeline is likely to lie dormant - even through a drought similar to the recent 13-year dry spell - under tough new rules for its operation.

The rules, to be released by the Baillieu government today, mean water from the Goulburn River will be sent down the pipe for Melbourne's water supply only if the city's dam levels are below 30 per cent of their capacity on November 30.

*Scroll down for Neil Mitchell's interview with water minister*

Melbourne Water says the city's storages have not been below 30 per cent on November 30 in any year since the Thomson Dam was brought online in 1984. Melbourne's water storages were 64.7 per cent full yesterday.

State Water Minister Peter Walsh said ''water from the north-south pipeline will only be considered as a last resort for use during extremely dry conditions or for fire-fighting purposes''.

''Melbourne's water will be stored in Eildon as Melbourne's insurance policy against stage 4 water restrictions in the future,'' he said.

While Melbourne's dams dipped below 30 per cent in three years during the last drought, by the end of November they had risen back over the threshold.

The $750 million pipeline - developed by the former Labor state government - was turned on in February last year. The project generated anger in some rural communities, sparking the ''Plug the Pipe'' campaign.

The pipe was to transfer 75 billion litres of water a year from the 225 billion litres saved through the $1 billion first stage of irrigation upgrades in the northern food bowl.

To date 27 billion litres of water have been transferred via the pipe, but it has sat dormant since September last year because its end point, the Sugarloaf Reservoir, has been near capacity. There are a further 12 billion litres of water in reserve in Lake Eildon held by Melbourne's water retailers, who contributed $300 million to the food bowl project.

Mr Walsh said: ''In return for their contribution towards the project, Melbourne's retail water businesses will continue to hold legal rights allowing them to trade the water in years when it is not needed.''

Melbourne Water said it was too soon for metropolitan retailers to make decisions about what to do with the city's Lake Eildon entitlement. Since the pipe stopped operating in September last year, $478,377 has been spent on its maintenance and energy costs, Melbourne Water said.

Under the new state government rules, the pipe will be kept full of water for fire-fighting needs, requiring 300 million litres of water a year.

The rules also mean Melbourne water retailers will get seasonal allocations against high reliability water shares for their entitlement of food bowl upgrade water, just as will all other entitlement holders.

Mr Walsh said the Labor government had made an ''ill-conceived'' decision to build Sugarloaf, as it would not be able to store the extra 75 billion litres of water from the north-south pipeline.

He said the Baillieu government would change the planning for Melbourne's future water needs. An expert report looking at options for Melbourne's water supply will be released this month.

Labor water spokesman John Lenders said Mr Walsh had an ideological opposition to the pipeline and had been ''doing gymnastics'' since becoming minister to avoid using it.

Mr Lenders said water had been effectively ''pinched'' by Mr Walsh from retailers, denying 4 million Melburnians access to cheap water.

- Tom Arup, Jason Dowling, The Age

PLAY: Neil Mitchell speaks to water minister Peter Walsh

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Neil Mitchell Neil is one of Australia’s most experienced journalists with success in newspapers, radio and television. He was one of the youngest editors of a daily metropolitan newspaper, The Herald. Enter Neil's highlights page for videos. replays and news.

Blog comments Your Say

  • Of curse The politics of panic and incompetence. We did not need a desal plant or a north south pipeline. Bracks and brumby were so in love with the greens and their cockamamie policies that now we are getting flods. A few dams and some flood mitigation works would have alleviated the floods we are now experiencing. But no, they were dumb, dumb and dumber.

    brenda rawlins Friday 9 March, 2012 - 5:17 PM

  • If the told the greenies to piss off and dam the Mitchell we would cheap abundant water, no water restrictions and a lower cost of living

    Mark Wednesday 16 November, 2011 - 1:08 PM

  • Another example of Labor incompetence,Brumby was always running around in a hard hat and a fluro vest showing us what a clown he was,another white elephant like the desal plant>!!

    Steve Tuesday 15 November, 2011 - 4:01 PM

  • Sorry Mr Ballieu, I do not agree this time. When times are plentiful that is the time to prepare for the worst. My dams on my land have been overflowing for the last 18 months. So have the dams in the western part of the state. The goulbourn does not need the water at the moment its overflowing. Move the water out of sugerloaf into the thompson and keep sugerloaf 100% full. "Saving for the rainy day" or in this case the dry days!

    DavidR Tuesday 15 November, 2011 - 1:10 PM

  • pandering to green madness is costing us a fortune.

    Mark Tuesday 15 November, 2011 - 12:32 PM

  • John from Heathmont you have know clue what has gone on into this desalination mess down here in South Gippsland

    col Tuesday 15 November, 2011 - 12:27 PM

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