Politics, not water conservation, driving flawed Central Coast water strategy

Friday, 29 June 2007 21:12

TEC has told the Councils that the strategy is seriously flawed and must be revised to give more priority to recycling and demand management. The public comment period for the Strategy closes today.

TEC Urban Campaigner Mr Leigh Martin said “The Councils have abandoned recycling despite their own research showing that it would maintain supply for longer at lesser cost than their preferred strategy. It is clear that lack of vision and political caution are hampering the development of sustainable water management policies on the Central Coast”

An earlier draft WaterPlan 2050 report by the Councils revealed that recycling initiatives could secure supply until 2052, five years longer than the water transfer system now being presented as the preferred option. Recycling options also carry lesser capital cost and cost per kilolitre yield according to the Councils’ own figures. Options available include substituting environmental flows in the Wyong River with recycled water and later upgrading to return purified recycled water to Mardi Dam.

TEC has also heavily criticised the dropping of plans for permanent water conservation measures which were proposed in the initial WaterPlan 2050 document. These measures were proposed for introduction once current supplies had recovered and would include low level restrictions such as banning the hosing of hard surfaces.

“Permanent water conservation measures are an essential and sensible component of sustainable water management. They have been introduced successfully in Melbourne and Adelaide to help conserve precious drinking water and should be part of long term water management on the Central Coast. There is simply no justification for wasting such a precious resource as drinking water on hosing paths and driveways”, Mr Martin said.