GOVERNMENT SELLING OFF WATER FOR SPORTS GROUNDS?

GOVERNMENT SELLING OFF WATER FOR SPORTS GROUNDS?

The State Government needs to come clean on what it is doing with Victoria’s water, according to the Nationals.

Eastern Victoria MP Peter Hall raised in Parliament this week a newspaper report which suggested that the State was considering ways in which to sell drinking water to local councils, at top dollar, and using the proceeds to fund other water saving projects. The water would be sold to councils for irrigation of sports grounds.

“The Government needs to come clean on whether it is selling drinking water to local councils for sports grounds. ”

Mr Hall told Parliament: “I can tell the house that people in my electorate and also other country Victorians are absolutely outraged that while this government is prepared to take water from the country regions of Victoria via a north-south pipeline and via a desalination plant in West Gippsland, it plans to profit from obviously excess water supplies that it has in Melbourne.

“By all means water sportsgrounds in Melbourne, but use recycled water. There is no need to use good potable water for such purposes.

“Today I call on the government to inform Victorians as to whether it has profited by selling excess water to local councils while keeping Melburnians on stage 3a water restrictions and robbing country Victorians of preciously needed water while failing to implement any projects that utilise significant amounts of recycled water.”

Mr Hall said he would pursue the Government on this issue, while also investigating the broader issues around water supply.

A Nationals- instigated Parliamentary inquiry into water supply for Melbourne will be held this year, and will look at the broad issues of water savings, including increased conservation and efficiency efforts, collection of stormwater, reuse of treated waste water, use of groundwater, small locally based desalination plants and any other options that add to better water use.

Outside Parliament, Mr Hall reiterated the view that Melbourne’s present and future water needs could be met without the need for the proposed north-south pipeline, which would divert water from the Goulburn Valley, or the desalination plant proposed for Wonthaggi.

In debate in December 2007 on the need for the inquiry, Mr Hall said; “Our (The Nationals) claim, which has been supported by government documentation was that sufficient water -- in fact, plenty of it – could be produced from treated recycled water or harvested stormwater to actually supplement Melbourne's required water supplies without the need to take more water from the north of the state, from Gippsland or from any other part of the state as well.”