MALENY HAD an opportunity to show it could be sustainable in water but the pipeline was decided well before this Council was formed. The system that’s there now is a bulk water issue. It’s inefficient and unreliable and unfortunately, the state government has now taken bulk water out of our hands.
But as a local government we have the opportunity through this new planning scheme to reduce our reliance on a guaranteed water supply when developing new areas. We’re going to have to start building tanks, constantly measuring the amount of water we use, build into our planning schemes, water reduction facilities. It means, just the introduction of dual flush toilets saved an enormous amount of water in south-east Queensland, so it’s not something we don’t understand or don’t know. It’s certainly something we’re planning as part of our sustainable future.
Let me give you an example. What we’re saying about the development of Caloundra South is that it has to be ‘water neutral’ – it must have no added effect on the water supply. So developers have to come up with ideas on how to recycle water and we’re doing all those studies now out at the 1000 lot Coolum Ridges. For example, all the storm water that comes off roofs will go into common drainage, pumped back to a common storage and reticulated back through the system along with water that’s been harvested from the sewerage line and re-treated. So you can have your reticulated drinking water in one pipe and your re-treated water in another pipe.
Given that we are in a situation where we can’t collect enough water in south-east Queensland , do we now walk away from that old council philosophy that said tank water was dangerous because it breeds mosquitoes and all sorts of water borne diseases? Do we now say yes, you can have tanks and you can use them for normal consumption? After all, in my entire life I have only had a few months when I haven’t lived off tank water.
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