Our representatives in Council who support Emu Swamp Dam would prefer to focus on whether the cost to Council of Emu Swamp Dam is X or Y.  This is a distraction from the fundamental issue: is there a good reason for Council to invest in Emu Swamp Dam?

Put simply, would Emu Swamp Dam be a reliable source of water for Stanthorpe in an extreme drought.

If it isn’t, then there is no reason for Council to be an investor in the dam at all.  Storm King Dam, outside extreme drought, provides sufficient water for Stanthorpe.

The draft Regional Water Assessment concludes that Emu Swamp Dam is not reliable in a drought. In an extreme drought like 2019 Emu Swamp Dam would not have been able to supply emergency water to Stanthorpe’s homes and businesses.

Given this, it wouldn’t matter how much Council was going to spend on the dam.  A few hundred thousand, or a few million. 

EMU SWAMP DAM DOES NOT MEET THE NEED THE TOWN HAS FOR RELIABLE WATER IN DROUGHT.

To argue about whether a pipeline will cost too much also distracts from the issue.  Would other towns, when faced with such a clear problem, start by squabbling about it costing too much to save the town and give it a future?  I don’t think so.

They’d start by clearly defining the problem and its effects.  They’d then determine a short list of options that may address that problem.  And if there was more than one option you could then compare them by cost.

If there’s only one option identified that would supply water to Stanthorpe in an extreme drought, then in my view Council should investigate that option to gain a full understanding of the proposal and its likely costs. 

That’s the point where you can look at who might help with costs, and how the project could be funded.

Of course Council can’t proceed with a project until it gets funding in place.  But there’s a hell of a lot of steps it should be taking, now, to investigate the potential solutions to Stanthorpe’s long term water security.

At the moment the draft Regional Water Assessment states that the Warwick to Stanthorpe pipeline “was the only option investigated that fully addresses Stanthorpe’s urban water security risk.”  It doesn’t seem like it should be controversial for Council to support investigating this option further.

3 December 2023