ACT Government decides on water security

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has announced a suite of initiatives in response to ACTEW’s July 2007 water security recommendations for the ACT region.

The range of water security measures that will be implemented include:

1. enlarging the Cotter Dam from 4 gigalitres (GL) to 78 GL, with planning and design work to begin immediately and work expected to be completed within three to five years ( at a capital cost of about $145 million);

2. the installation of infrastructure to increase the volume of water transferred from the Murrumbidgee River to the Googong Dam (about $70 million);

3. pursuing the possibility of purchasing water from Tantangara Dam (about $38 million);

4. design of a demonstration Water Purification Plant, with the water produced by the plant to be used for purposes other than drinking (about $6 million will be spent during the year-long design phase);

5. increasing funding for demand reduction measures by $2 million;

6. investigating the extension of Permanent Water Conservation Measures;

7. implementing a pilot Smart Metering program; and

8. voluntarily off-setting the additional greenhouse gases generated by these projects.

The ACT Government has also agreed to voluntarily offsetting additional greenhouse gas emissions associated with the operation of all water security projects.

The ACT Government report is available here.