Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to urge the federal government to support, through the National Water Commission, Coliban Water’s application for funding under the water grants program to construct a pipeline connecting the Waranga channel to Lake Eppalock near Bendigo. Funding this project would represent a wise and strategic investment in water infrastructure, improvement in water management as well as good practice in the stewardship of Australia’s scarce water resources. This undertaking, along with a suite of initiatives outlined in Coliban Water’s 2005 water plan, will provide an underground water project that will improve Australia’s efficiency and environmental outcomes in line with the objectives and intent of the National Water Initiative fund.

The Coliban Water Authority has also had a plan under consideration for the past few months to access groundwater from the vast aquifers located under the Castlemaine, Kyneton and Elmore districts. A study of the DNRE map of Victorian underground water areas indicates a vast mass containing huge volumes of good-quality water. My office is currently undertaking research into obtaining an accurate indication of just how much water is available from these underground sources. As I said, the preliminary studies show potentially huge quantities of water may be available.

As I said, Coliban Water has been investigating the feasibility of accessing groundwater to secure the water supply for the Castlemaine and Kyneton districts as well as investigating using groundwater from the Elmore district to supplement Bendigo’s water needs. This presents an opportunity to consider going a step further and providing the infrastructure to enable groundwater from these sources to be pumped directly into the entire Coliban water system, which, I believe, in conjunction with the Waranga to Eppalock pipeline, would virtually drought proof the centre of the Victorian region completely for decades.

Service water from the normal catchment areas of the Coliban and Goulburn-Murray systems by the Eppalock pipeline will secure our water requirements, but only if we get appropriate inflows into these catchment areas in the future. If the drought conditions worsen, utilising the available groundwater would become essential. We need to immediately consider providing the infrastructure to access this source of water.

Once the infrastructure is in place we can then use available groundwater, if and when required. This would provide adequate insurance to ensure the region has access to the quantities of fresh water so essential for our wellbeing and survival. When the drought conditions pass, the region’s catchment returns to somewhere near normal and we get a surplus of surface water, we should have the capacity to put water back into these groundwater reserves for future use. In other words we would be establishing a water bank, accessing the groundwater from these aquifers in severe drought conditions and then replacing it with our surface water when the conditions return to normal. This is not rocket science, but it should drought proof the region for our future generations. After all, isn’t that our obligation and responsibility?

The Waranga channel to Lake Eppalock pipeline proposal meets a number of the eligibility criteria outlined in the Water Smart Australia funding guidelines. The project would be the major component of a strategy to address an imminent water crisis that has major implications for regional Victoria. It would therefore produce a substantial water resource management outcome in rural, regional and urban areas. It would have a high degree of certainty in delivering outcomes that are repeatable, lead to sustained changes in water management practice and produce significant environmental, economic and social benefits. It would be more appropriate to name the Waranga to Eppalock pipeline ‘Bendigo’s lifeline’. That is how critical this project is. While regional Victoria’s water catchment areas continue to decline as a result of the prolonged drought, this pipeline may well be the lifeblood of the city of Bendigo.

Bendigo is the fastest-growing region in central Victoria, with an annual growth rate of 1.8 per cent. Townships along the Melbourne to Bendigo corridor, including Kyneton and Castlemaine, have also experienced substantial growth in recent years, and significant future growth is planned and anticipated. The drought conditions over the past few years, along with increased demand due to growth, has placed the water supply system under extreme stress. Despite some of the harshest water restrictions in Australia, our water reserves are currently far below normal capacity. Lake Eppalock, which provides 80 per cent of Bendigo’s water supply, is currently at around three per cent of capacity.

A prolonged water shortage will have a major and adverse impact on the growth of the regional economy. Several well-established business and community leaders have in recent months publicly expressed concern that the lack of additional water and capacity is already adversely impacting on decisions to establish or grow businesses and business enterprises and attract the necessary skilled and professional staff vital to Bendigo fulfilling its role as a major regional centre—including in areas such as health, education, aged care and banking. An adequate water supply is also critical for the region’s significant agriculture and viticulture industries.

The proposed Waranga to Eppalock pipeline project will enable water sharing between the Junee water catchments and provide for greater flexibility and interconnectivity within the Coliban water catchment area. In meeting these objectives of the Water Smart Australia program, the project would provide significant economic and environmental benefits, including providing the potential to access water for additional flows, with benefits for the capacity and ultimately— (Time expired)