Watershed Victoria

A secret, State Government, cabinet-commissioned water plan delivered to ministers early in June 2007 said that the desalination plant and the N-S pipe could have been avoided with the kind of water policy Watershed Victoria is advocating. This was before the decision, to turn the water plan put to the people at the last election, on its head.

Click here to - Read the report in the Sunday Age 29/03/2009

(http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-projects-not-needed-20090328-9ev6.html)

And Mr Brumby’s response: If we had done that we would be on Stage 4 restrictions now. But Mr Brumby, your government’s new Water Plan hasn’t actually sourced any new water as yet! Some of these alternatives could already be topping up our dams And the efficiency measures could have been allowing us to take much less from the dams than the miserly tank rebates and replacement showerheads you have spent millions in the media to convince us you are doing something.

The two giant French water companies Veolia and Suez (Degremont), who head the technology arms of the two consortia to build a Victorian desalination plant are discussed here in this La Monde article. Their rise to dominance in water and waste infrastructure in many countries is discussed, and the growing backlash from the community is investigated.

Click here to see the whole article, which is available at; http://mondediplo.com/2005/03/12private

“In the case of the desalination plant, however, the investors’ financial problems are an opportunity to reconsider a project that was of dubious merit in the first place”. 

Former Melbourne Water managing director John Morgan has described recycling as “cost effective, safe and environmentally correct”,…

“If plans to upgrade purification and return water to dams had gone ahead, Melbourne’s supply would have increased by a quarter — sooner than the desalination plant, at more than twice the energy efficiency and about a third of the cost”.

Click here to see the whole article.

Go to ‘Tech Talk’ or Click here to see what some of the other alternatives are.

Kenneth Davidson in the Age, 09/03/09, again points out how beneficial a pipe from Tasmania to Victoria might be.

“The proposal is that this water from Tasmania would replace the water from the Thomson and Upper Yarra dams, which now supply 400 gigalitres to Melbourne. This water would be freed up to replenish the Murray-Goulburn Basin with the expenditure of $300 million to build a tunnel 30 kilometres through the Great Divide to the Eildon”.

Click here to download the article in full.

“Becoming black balloon junkies at a time when everyone else is being urged by TV ads to kick the habit isn’t a good look”.

Click here for Dr. Peter Fishers article in the Age, Monday 09/03/09

“Unfortunately, at the rate we’re seeing reverse-osmosis desalination introduced, wind farms will only succeed in slowing the shameful rate of growth in emissions”.

And on other options; “All of these options need to be openly considered by the Government if there is to be any serious attempt to achieve real carbon reduction in the next couple of decades”.

Click here to see how alternative water supply options could source the same amount of water at up to one quarter the energy/greenhouse cost.

“THE project meant to secure Melbourne against water shortages is facing a crisis: a money shortage because of the global credit squeeze”.

“Banking sources say the project faces a funding gap of between $1 billion and $2 billion. Some in the infrastructure industry say a mere $300 million to $500 million is available from banks for all major projects across the country”.

“The shortfalls confront the Brumby and Rudd governments with either finding the money to bail out the controversial plant, along with a string of other projects across the country, or shelving it”.

Click here for the whole article in the Age on Monday 09/03/09

The real story now will be how the Brumby Government, who have dug such a hole for themselves by relying on this one option, get out of it. Will they;

 - Allow a go ahead without funding and risk the consortia collapsing and the government having to bail them out,

 - Allow a contract where we pay for water even if it isn’t needed (a ‘take or pay’ contract),

 - Give away chunks of Melbourne’s water infrastructure and activities to this multinational consortia to boost their profitability,

 - Beg the Federal Government to contribute from the infrastructure fund, some part of the $4,000+ million cost, for a project giving only 50 full time jobs when operating,

 - The possibilities are mind boggling.

See ‘Tech Talk’ where Watershed Victoria shows alternatives could source the same quantity of water for between 1/3 and 1/2 the cost.

 FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE OCEAN THE CHOICE IS CLEAR:

 Get Real on Climate Change

Close ocean polluting outfalls at beaches such as Gunamatta and 13^th Beach and recycle waste and rainwater (Freshwater Thinking) or build a massive climate change accelerating desalination plant next to the renowned Powlett River surfing beach.

The Victorian Desalination Plant – Largest in the World:

ACCELERATES CLIMATE CHANGE

Equivalent to an extra 280,000 cars on Victorian roads per year.

POLLUTES THE OCEAN

Will discharge into our ocean  biocides, by product chemicals, brine and at least 20 truckloads of  industrial waste per week!

KILLS  MARINE LIFE

Everything from the tiny plankton that make up the base of the food chain to our whales will be affected.  A deliberately flawed and incomplete impact reviewal process means we just don’t know how bad the plant will be.

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