On 29 July 2021 Mayor Vic Pennisi was quoted as saying that Emu Swamp Dam “would not be a solution for 150 years.  It will be a solution for 50 years, but not 150 years.”

So setting aside the question of where on earth Mayor Pennisi got this number, let’s test his suggestion against the expert advice available to, and in many cases paid for, by Council.  Will Emu Swamp Dam be “a solution” and will it be a solution for 50 years?

But firstly, what is the solution for?  What we need solved is a reliable urban water supply for Stanthorpe during extreme drought conditions like the recent 2017 to 2021 drought.

In its presentation to Council dated 18 November 2020, the State Water Department found that in the most recent drought (2017 to 2021) Emu Swamp Dam would have “failed in the historical modelling [with] no active storage available”.  I want to repeat that, as it’s a point we have repeatedly made, but no one wants to respond to this (neither SDRC, GBIP or the Stanthorpe and Granite Belt Chamber of Commerce):

EMU SWAMP DAM WOULD HAVE BEEN EMPTY,

JUST LIKE STORM KING DAM,

IN THE LAST DROUGHT

So if we have a similar drought to the last one, in the next 50 years, then Emu Swamp Dam would not be a “solution”.  In fact in all likelihood it would be a complete waste of Council’s money.

SO IS THERE A BETTER SOLUTION?

The Department of Water found that during the most recent drought “Connolly Dam with no inflow could support carting until August 2022”.    

This advice from the State government matches that of GHD’s 2017 report to Council, which recommended that the Connolly Dam pipeline was more effective for long-term water security than Emu Swamp Dam.  As did an earlier 2010 report to Council.

Given the Department of Water said that “None of the options analysed”, which included Emu Swamp Dam, “will eliminate the need for carting from Warwick” then surely SDRC should be investigating the Connolly Dam pipeline?

In October 2011, SDRC said in its Fact Sheet “Pipeline from Connolly Dam to Stanthorpe” that operating Connolly Dam in conjunction with Storm King Dam was modeled with 100% reliability even in the most severe drought conditions and it was a “complete solution to Stanthorpe’s water security problems”. 

So what happened to this “complete solution”.  Perhaps a hint can be found in the interview by Belinda Sanders on ABC Local Radio, when she asked (then) Councillor Vic Pennisi whether any other water supply options were being looked at.  Vic Pennisi’s reply? 

“NO, NOT WHILE EMU SWAMP DAM

IS ON THE TABLE.”

The dam that kept us going during the last drought was Connolly Dam.  So why isn’t the Council working with the State government to deliver a pipeline from Connolly Dam to Stanthorpe?