James Lister MP in a speech to parliament last week, while plugging the supposedly “transformational” Emu Swamp Dam, said in relation to the Toowoomba to Warwick pipeline:

It does not take an intellectual giant to contemplate the scenario where Brisbane is running short of water, Toowoomba is running short of water and Warwick at the end of the pipeline misses out.

While this is of course possible, though a truly apocalyptic scenario, let’s look again at the most recent drought of 2017 to 2021.  Brisbane still had water, as did Toowoomba, and so too did Warwick. 

Not so Stanthorpe.  Not only was Storm King Dam dry, but the expert modelling presented to the Council by the Department of Water stated that Emu Swamp Dam would have “failed in the historical modelling [with] no active storage available”. 

EMU SWAMP DAM WOULD HAVE

BEEN EMPTY, JUST LIKE STORM KING

DAM, IN THE LAST DROUGHT

This is a point we have repeatedly made, but there has not been a single response.  Not from James Lister MP, not from Mayor Pennisi, not from Councillor Tancred, not from Council, not from David Littleproud MP, not from the Stanthorpe and Granite Belt Chamber of Commerce, and not even from Granite Belt Water. 

It does not take an intellectual giant to see that in the last drought a pipeline from Warwick to Stanthorpe would have been used for 18 months (instead of water carting by truck) because Connolly Dam did have water available, and it was that very water that sustained Stanthorpe after Storm King Dam ran dry.

It does not take an intellectual giant to see that this simple and uncontested fact means there is no justification for the town to be an investor in this project.  Emu Swamp Dam will not drought-proof Stanthorpe.  And those who are so keen to waste ratepayer and taxpayer money, despite the expert modelling, certainly aren’t looking like intellectual giants.