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Tantangara Transfer

Tantangara Water Transfer Arrangements

What is it?

Under the Tantangara supply option, water would be transferred from the Snowy Mountains Scheme, most likely via the Tantangara Reservoir in NSW to the ACT’s Corin or Googong Reservoirs.

This would involve:

  1. purchasing water from irrigators downstream of the ACT;
  2. storing water in Tantangara Reservoir; and
  3. transporting water from Tantangara to the ACT.

Under this option, the ACT would buy water from NSW, VIC or SA and entering into a commercial agreement with Snowy Hydro. It would also require a complex web of approvals and consent processes that include NSW, ACT, Victoria and Commonwealth jurisdictions.

Options

Two options were considered in the 2005 Future Water Options study and have been reassessed during ACTEW’s 2007 water security review. Both use existing dams and treatment plants and would provide the ACT with an additional water source at relatively low cost. They are:

  1. a long tunnel alternative including a weir, connecting tunnel, outflow pipes, and hydropower plant construction to link the Murrumbidgee River with the Corin Reservoir; or
  2. a Murrumbidgee River flow alternative including a weir, pumping station and pipeline construction to link the Murrumbidgee River with the Googong Reservoir.

In the first option, a 20km-long tunnel would link the Murrumbidgee River just outside Kosciuszko National Park, to the Cotter River, three kilometres upstream from Corin Reservoir’s headwaters. In the second alternative, a pipeline connecting the Murrumbidgee River with the Googong Reservoir would convey pumped water to Googong Reservoir, an alternative that has been recommended as an additional way to abstract water from the Murrumbidgee River near Angle Crossing. (See Fact Sheet on the Angle Crossing.)

How much will it cost?

It is estimated that about $38 million may be spent on purchasing water rights from irrigators in the market but the operating costs will depend upon agreed commercial arrangements.

How long will it take?

It is envisaged it will take some six months to complete political, legal and commercial work on this option before availability of the Tantangara Transfer option can be confirmed.