Water Matters - May 20 Launceston

Yesterday in the Mercury Sue Neals reported that ratepayers are likely to be charged yet another brand new fee for stormwater management.

Apparently the State Government is currently reviewing laws governing Tasmania's drains and urban water. However, Launceston’s so called management is so far out of step as to be oblivious to all this.

Bryan Green, our Water Minister, has “announced the release of a consultation paper by the Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Department, as part of a review of the 56-year-old Drains Act.” reports Sue Neals

Interestingly this report is driven by the need to be "more holistic" in respect to urban water.

Rather than focusing on preventing flooding much more attention needs to be paid to “storm water as a resource” Minister Green is reported to have said.

We can expect yet another transfer of responsibility from councils to the independent water corporations, as was the case water and sewerage.

Sue Neals report flags :

• Making rainwater tanks compulsory to reduce household water consumption and the demand on water treatment plants and reservoirs.

• Harvesting city stormwater run-off which now flows into the Tamar from Launceston's streets.

• Giving stormwater a value which the water authorities and councils can use to build stormwater retention systems.

• Improving stormwater retention to reduce water pollution problems for rivers such as the Tamar.

All over Australia stormwater is an untapped resource and Tasmania, indeed Launceston is no exception despite Launceston City Council managements’ ongoing comforting claims “that Launceston has plenty of water.”

Harvesting stormwater for safe reuse has obvious benefits, not the least being “improved flows in water ecosystems and increased water conservation, which eases the demand on drinking water supplies" according to the report. Launcestonians are hardly likely to argue about that!

It seems that the incentive for reviewing the Drains Act is to make sure that Tasmania is able to apply for the federal grants now available under the multi-billion-dollar National Water Initiative program. We need to make sure that Launceston does not miss out yet again because our planners are asleep at the wheel.

This is something the managers and planners at Launceston City Council were oblivious to when they advised the city’s aldermen the whack the ratepayers almost $2 million for a water management folly on Trevallyn.

The public are encouraged to contribute to the review. Launceston City Council needs to take lead here to alleviate the costs to ratepayers – and after that the be up with the game rather than tagging along behind as has been LCC managements habit recently.

Sue Neals reports that submissions can be made until June 11.