REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY PROJECT

The Regional Water Supply Project was approved in 2000 as a dam on Shannon Creek, and a pipeline from the existing Grafton water supply to Karangi Dam. The dam was to provide water security to the Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour. The pipeline work has been fast-tracked, and maybe by the time you’re reading this, it will be finished. Pipeline construction has created substantial soil and vegetation impacts, and contractors have been fined by the EPA.

In the current drought, the Nymboida is at record low levels. The Minister for Land and Water Conservation, John Aquilina, has identified fast-tracking of the pipeline as a 'drought initiative'. In September a surprise announcement was made that water stored at Karangi Dam could be sent back along the new pipeline to Grafton.

Land and Water Conservation has also granted North Coast Water permission to draw from the little water remaining in the Nymboida River, and send it to Karangi Dam as soon as the new pipeline is connected. This sort of permission is not normally granted and is called an 'emergency' provision.

Meanwhile, urban growth in Coffs Harbour and the Lower Clarence is set to increase. Even with existing demand levels, water security in the Clarence Valley/Coffs Harbour region is very poor under drought conditions. If we enter into another drought before the dam is built and filled in 2008, then the situation will be even more drastic. It defies logic to be adding to existing water demand while there is no secure water supply in place.

A growing number of community groups are fighting the Regional Water Supply Project on several fronts. The 'Clarence Water Users Coalition' enjoys support from landholders, businesses and environmental groups. The community is pulling together to stop pipeline fast-tracking and make the water authority honour its promise of a regional scheme that provides both better water security and better flow protection for our rivers.

Already, more than 2,000 signatures have been collected on petitions to support the Coalition’s cause and two big public meetings have been held. A multitude of people have been writing letters to the Daily Examiner, and it seems that everyone is really awake on this issue. Let’s keep the momentum up.

What the Clarence Environment Centre wants to see:

Rivers

  • Investigation of Nymboida power station in terms of increased flow protection, impacts on Blaxlands Creek and Orara River, and the canoe course - with a view to genuine ecological improvement
  • Protection of Nymboida River flows to the 80th percentile (with adaptive review and refinement)
  • No pipeline operation outside emergency drought measures until a secure sustainable long-term water supply is in place

Alternatives

  • A desalination plant is preferable to a water storage. Push for pilot project.

Flora and fauna

  • Defence of flora and fauna values at Shannon Creek
  • Rehabilitation of pipeline route using endemic plant species

Development

  • All new development in Regional Water Supply Project area must be self-sufficient in water (ie no connections to the regional water supply) until a secure sustainable long-term water supply strategy is in place.
  • All new development to be designed for total water cycle management, and existing development retrofitted.