Tweed District Water Supply Augmentation
An integrated approach to water
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Already residents are aware of the importance of reducing water consumption and this can be seen from the fact that daily residential consumption per capita has steadily fallen since 2002 and despite steady population growth the shire uses no more water now than it did in 1991. While water use reduction works have been carried out by Council for many years, the Demand Management Strategy (DMS) has provided a new focus for additional actions Council will undertake with the community to further reduce future water usage.
Council is adopting an integrated approach. Using less water (demand management) is a step in the right direction, and installation of water efficient appliances and
rainwater tanks has been made mandatory
in all new developments. Installations are also encouraged for existing homes,
and Council is saving water by investigating improving
recycled water use each year. But these
measures will only delay the need to augment our current water supply system –
it will not avoid the need.
Why does the Tweed need more water?
Urban land release sites already zoned for development mean that the population of the Tweed will be double in the future. The current water supply system has sufficient capacity to support a population of around 105,000 people, and current estimates of water usage rates and possible population growth rates it will be able to provide sufficient water until at least 2023.
Both supply and demand management strategies need to be in place to cope with the extra demand. By implementing further demand management actions, we should be able to further reduce our water usage and extend the life of our existing water supply to beyond 2023 and perhaps to 2030. However within the next 25 years we are likely to need additional water to meet the demand above these levels.
Why start planning now?
Planning to augment the water supply will take time, and to ensure the Tweed is ready, we need to begin planning now. Council must plan for the earliest date the additional water supply capacity would be required (2023). Of course, if we find that future water use is less than what has been predicted, then augmentation of the system could be postponed until such time it was required.
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What phase are we at now?
Council has been undertaking an extensive assessment to determine the best way forward. To date Council has researched nine options to augment the water supply, and four of those options were short-listed for
further consideration.
The short-listed options are:
- Raise the height of the existing Clarrie Hall Dam.
- Build a new dam at Byrrill Creek.
- Connect to the South East Queensland (SEQ) Water Grid via a pipeline.
- A combination of pipelines to Rous Water and SEQ Water, plus Groundwater Supply.
Determining a preferred option is the first phase in augmenting the district’s water supply with subsequent phases becoming more focused and requiring greater investment of time, resources and expenditure. The steps are shown graphically in a flowchart and can be summarised as:
- Determine a preferred option
- Gain development approval for that option
- Design, construct and operate the scheme.
The aim of future phases is to fine-tune the preferred option. During these phases there will also be opportunities for the community to become involved to inform the fine-tuning process.
What has been happening?
Council recognises the importance of augmenting the district’s water supply and wants the community and stakeholders to provide advice and become involved from the early stages of the process. The first phase of community involvement is now complete, but there will be other opportunities for the community to become involved in the future.
The initial community consultation period ran for over six months from 26 October 2009 to 30 April 2010. During this time the community and stakeholders were invited and engaged through:
- Setting up a freecall 1800 number for community members to have their questions answered and to take the effort out of writing a submission (people were able to record up to a 30-second submission)
- A Community Working Group (CWG) comprising of key representatives from the community met five times over a four-month period to debate and discuss the issues. The CWG produced a report of recommendations which is available for download and was used by Council's consultants to assist in determining a preferred option
 Community Working Group (CWG) - Summary Report (150kb)
- Producing Factsheets and Reports to inform the community
- All factsheets, reports, Community Working Group minutes and reports are available online or at Council offices and libraries
- An Interested Parties Register was set up where people and organisations were kept informed of developments either by email or regular post. Over 100 people were registered and 11 circulars were sent during the community consultation period
- Council kept the community informed through regular media releases, articles and advertisements in local newspapers, radio and television. Council attended regular meetings with the Aboriginal Advisory Committee and the Aboriginal community
- Public stalls and information sessions were held at Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah and Pottsville, and Council has attended community meetings at Uki Council made presentations to community groups including Murwillumbah Rotary, the Tweed River Catchment Catch-up, the Aboriginal Advisory Committee, an open meeting of the Aboriginal community, the Tweed River Committee, and government agencies
- Over 40 individual meetings were held with potentially affected landholders on their properties to provide them with information, understand how they may be affected, and hear their particular concerns
- The date for submissions was extended following a request by the CWG to allow additional time for the community to make submissions.
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