So after reading the ABC article of 28 January 2023 “Stanthorpe left high and dry by drought contingency pipeline for neighbouring towns” I’m left wondering just what planet our Mayor is on.  The article had this to say:

Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Vic Pennisi said avenues other than a pipeline needed to be explored because the town was elevated on the eastern spine of the Great Dividing Range.  "It's not, 'Down to Stanthorpe'. It's up," he said.  "With a lift of about 250 metres of head.  And instead of digging through nice black soil country, you're digging through granite country."

The 250m of head almost exactly matches the 245m of head described in the Granite Belt Irrigation Project’s detailed business case for Emu Swamp Dam (see for example Table 15.7).  And presumably the 40km of pipeline from Connolly Dam to Stanthorpe is much easier than the 126km of pipeline for Emu Swamp Dam through exactly the same granite country.  I’ve got to admit I just don’t understand how these statements, which apply to both projects, rule out a pipeline but don’t rule out Emu Swamp Dam. 

Does Mayor Pennisi know something that the experts don’t know?

Queensland government modelling, that was provided to SDRC, makes it clear that Emu Swamp Dam would have been empty in the 2019 drought.

In that drought, a pipeline from Connolly Dam would have saved us from trucking water to the town. Emu Swamp Dam would have provided NO ADDITIONAL WATER for the town during drought.  It’s as clear as that.

Mayor Pennisi, who is unable to vote on matters relating to Emu Swamp Dam at Council meetings due to a conflict, is the SDRC representative to the Regional Water Assessment (RWA) process.  Concerns about this obvious conflict have been raised, and not just by POW!  Perhaps the basis for these concerns is now becoming clear.  

Any Mayor or Councillor who was truly representing the best interests of ratepayers and town businesses would have no reason to dismiss a pipeline at this stage of the RWA process.  The only reason they would do so is to support a dam that benefits 50 irrigators, and does not drought-proof Stanthorpe.

An unbiased Mayor could even support a pipeline (for the town during drought) as well as Emu Swamp Dam (for irrigators).

So I guess we can all see who Mayor Pennisi is representing.  And it isn’t us.