It is predicted that the next 40 years will see the demand for water increase by 50 per cent in the local government areas (LGA) that Rous County Council (RCC) supply with water.
This is due to the pressure on the region to accept a significant population increase. The current population sees approximately 37,000 residential connections and 3,800 non-residential connections. This is forecasted to grow to 63,700 residential connections and 8,640 non-residential connections by 2060 across the Lismore, Byron, Ballina, and Richmond Valley LGAs. That is an expected increase of 31,540 connections over the next 40 years. However, these figures exclude growth in the towns of Mullumbimby, Wardell, Nimbin and Casino.
Each Council elects two councillors to the RCC which is responsible for securing the water supply to these LGAs and the midterm elections have seen the status quo retained on the RCC governing body.
Dunoon Dam
Richmond Valley Mayor Robert Mustow was reelected chairperson and Ballina Shire Mayor Sharon Cadwallader was reelected deputy chairperson.
Following the last council elections the controversial Dunoon Dam was again put back on the agenda at the first RCC meeting; it had been removed by the previous RCC board in December 2020.
The removal was based on the two cultural heritage studies that had been conducted and that the traditional owners had objected to the dam, the environmental impact, and the cost to ratepayers.
Speaking to the future water challenges Ms Cadwallader told The Echo, ‘Rous is taking immediate actions to secure water for the region by developing new groundwater schemes and to meet the challenge of a growing population and a changing climate, so an “all options on the table” approach is being taken to Rou’s third stage of planning.’
‘Responsible planning means investigating all the options that are available to Rous including groundwater, purified recycled water, desalination and surface water options. The Proposed Dunoon Dam is one of these options being investigated with comprehensive cultural heritage and biodiversity assessments commencing in the coming weeks. These assessments will provide Councillors with the comprehensive and contemporary information required to make an informed decision regarding the next steps.’
Third Cultural Heritage study
This will mark the third cultural heritage study done at the Dunoon Dam site with traditional owners having repeatedly stated that they are opposed to the Dunoon Dam.
‘The suggestion to drown our sites to protect them, as stated in the 2013 Cultural Heritage impact assessment is deeply offensive to us,’ Widjabul Wia-bal woman of the Bundjalung Nation, Skye Roberts told RCC in February 2022.
WATER Northern Rivers who formed in opposition to the Dunoon Dam and to promote alternative strategies to ensure water security in the region told The Echo that they ‘invite members of this governing body to update our community on what Rous has done to date to bring real water security into reality by fixing system losses (leaks), enhancing ground water sources, progressing recycled water and desalination, in line with the Far North Coast Regional Water Strategy.’
Chairperson Mustow said ‘We will continue to find solutions for the challenges specific to this area, especially in the fields of water security, weed biosecurity, and rural flood mitigaton. I’m certain that our team of county councillors will work towards finding solutions for these challenges and make a positive contribution to our community.’
‘The region’s constituent councils, residents, Traditional Custodians, business owners, farmers and others can be confident that our council will continue to manage our natural resources and infrastructure,’ said Ms Cadwallader.
The role of Rous County councillors is to represent their constituent council and make decisions that are in the best interests of the region Rous County Council serves.
The other six Rous County councillors are:
- Councillor Rod Bruem (Ballina Shire Council)
- Councillor Michael Lyon (Byron Shire Council)
- Councillor Sarah Ndiaye (Byron Shire Council)
- Councillor Big Rob (Lismore City Council)
- Councillor Andrew Gordon (Lismore City Council)
- Councillor Sandra Humphrys (Richmond Valley Council)
Instead of spending millions and destroying land, use those millions to buy each house a water tank and start being sustainable.
Subsidise better taps and shower heads. Start investigating older houses and the pipes and fix them up. The sewage pipes are starting to crack and blow up in the area.
Make it compulsory for businesses to recycle and reuse their water.
We have finite land. Stop destroying it and USE what we already use.
40% increase in population per decade due to economic migration is going to exhaust your water supply well before 40 years, at which point Aboriginals will cop a lot of the blame. But every bad policy needs scapegoats.
So glad Im on tank water. I treasure what I have and how much I can use. Any dripping tap or seep in the ground has to be fixed asap. Good luck to the current ( and future ) population on town water who will one day turn on a tap and have zero water come out !!
Rous recently received a $2m grant “to explore the feasibility of a range of infrastructure options that could increase water supply for Ballina, Byron, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Casino including bores, a new dam, de-salination and new storage options.” This is part of $8m Rous intends to spend on these investigations. So when the Mayor says “Rous is taking immediate actions to secure water for the region …”, really? What seems to be happening is Rous is redoing their 2021 study that took about 10 years and produced a report in 2021 that was supposed to have all the answers. Eight million dollars of studies will presumably take years, so how can they take immediate action?
And when the Mayor says taking immediate action – their 2021 study was released in July 2021 which is 2 and a half years ago – yet they seem to have done nothing. They allocated $0.5million last year to pay for a cost overrun on works at a bore near Alstonville last year, is this bore producing water? If not why not?
Why are there no reports in the Rous business paper on the progress of the works from the 2021 report? Based on the lack of reports in the Rous business paper the elected Councillors have no oversight of the progress of these projects, and the public are also completely in the dark. There could be real disasters going on behind the scenes ($8m is a lot of money for reports when everything seemed to be answered in the 2021 report).
The current Rous Councillors seem to be a do nothing group (including providing oversight to the 2021 report projects), with the Councillors and staff apparently just waiting out the time until the election.
Water experts like Prof Stuart Khan have made it clear that to have water security in drought we need 50% of water from sources that don’t depend on rain – in other words, diversify. This means 50% coming from Purified Recycled Water and Desalination. Adding a second big dam to the same creek is the opposite of this.
We could also go for decentralised rainfall capture (not all on the same creek) by adopting the Warrnambool model for a new housing development. In that model they collected 100% of rain that fell on all the roofs by running it down into a local small reservoir/dam, doing some inexpensive water treatment, then putting it back into the reticulation system. Needless to say, this collects much, much more rainwater than those small tanks on new housing developments . In Warrnambool the rainfall is half what we get here yet it was enough to equal the needs of the new housing development. Why aren’t we going for smart solutions?
Cause Codwolloper is a pro-development, fake environmentalist who gets pictures of herself taken with koalas for her council election, while in the other breath, wants to flood and kill a beautiful and rare environment, encourage land clearing on private land with her opt in policy and is talking about developing in the plateau green belt. The fact is, desalination is the only solution. It is the only way that water is added to the water cycle. In Israel, the are producing de-sal water for 20c a kilo litre. This is cheaper than what it costs to take and treat water from the dam.
Btw, Codwolloper has got to go. Even her petty childish back and forths with councillors in the public domain shows she is not fit to do the job.
Bye bye…
If it is not sensible to put two dams on one creek, as you seem to be suggesting, then do you think it is not sensible to attach two water tanks to the one house?
Oh, the solution’s obvious. Every time someone moves in, we’ve all got to use a bit less. Sorted.
That’s an excellent idea. It would serve as a reality check for the population growth cheerleaders.