Decision on Bore Water Made
After thorough investigation, consultation and discussions with the community, a decision has been reached. At the general meeting on the 21st of May, Council resolved to retain bores as a supply source and seek to blend the bore water to the river water supply, with an implementation program to be developed to phase out the bore water reticulation system.
Council directed that an implementation program be developed to retain bores as a supplysource, and blend the bore water to the river water supply, with a program to be developed tophase out the bore water reticulation system. The implementation program will includeissues such as retaining the two bores, sourcing funding for a new bore to replace the currentbores, potential subsidies for plumbing, hot water systems and other associated costs,timelines and financial implications.
“This was one of the hardest decisions this council has had to make. Everyone in thecommunity would like to have both bore water and river water, but our community can notafford to pay for two reticulation systems. We as a council have done a lot of investigationand research, and had community meetings on the matter, and this is the closest to a win/winsituation that we will get that is affordable and goes a long way to drought proofing ourcommunity” Cr Palmer said. “It is important to note that we are not losing the bore water supply – only the reticulationsystem that takes bore water to individual residences. There will be a plan to phase this inand we will be looking at ways to potentially subsidise hot water systems, plumbing andassociated costs for our residents. The phasing out of the bore water reticulation system willbe done over a period of time” Cr Palmer said.
The Longreach Regional Council was faced with the issue of making a decision regarding thefuture of the bore water reticulation system when it was brought to their attention soon afterthe election in March 2008 that significant works were needed on this system. As it turnsout, over $8m was going to be needed to repair and replace the existing bore waterreticulation system and this, coupled with significant works to the value of $10m beingrequired on the river water, which is the only potable supply, would have led to significantrate increases.
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