In the same week public submissions were published largely against Council staff plans to decommission Mullum’s local water supply in favour of bulk supplier Rous, Greens Council candidates are calling for a pause on the decision until after the September 14 local government elections.
Councillors are set to vote on the issue on August 15.
The Greens are calling for more time for the decision-making process, citing inadequate research, and outdated climate modelling.
Greens candidate Elia Hauge, who is also a water engineer, said, ‘Council has a responsibility to make the right choice for Mullumbimby’s long-term water security, but there’s not enough information available to do that before the election’.
Additionally, NSW Greens’ water spokesperson, Cate Faehrmann, is also calling for the decision to be delayed.
Cr Sarah Ndiaye, who is running for mayor and is the chair of the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee, told The Echo she supports a delay.
‘I have always supported more information, and can see the benefits of more community input and further information’, said Cr Ndiaye.
‘When you see that sign coming into Mullumbimby and it says ‘the biggest little town’, that was because Mullumbimby was pretty self-sufficient. It had its own water supply, electricity production and waste management along with many other things.
‘We know now localising key infrastructure can deliver more resilience, so it’s a big decision to lose our local water supply. It may end up being the right decision, but there are still a lot of questions’.
Cr Ndiaye was asked: You previously said more detailed information was needed about the potential for off-stream storage. Has there been much investigation into how to lift the heritage order? It’s unclear why this is a impediment given it is operational now.
‘I would like more information about off-stream storage to understand what it would look like, how it could work, what the environmental considerations are and if it’s feasible.
‘The anomaly of having working infrastructure that sits under a heritage order that prevents ongoing works still baffles me, and I haven’t seen the rationale around that or what the costs variations to repair would be if that wasn’t an impediment.
‘Regardless, we have been told that the current footprint of the infrastructure can’t meet current standards, but there must be work-arounds for situations like this’.
Has there been much research into grants available to improve infrastructure and develop off-stream storage capacity?
‘Not that I’m aware of.
‘The option seems to have been dismissed without thorough investigations.
‘We are really lucky that decisions were made over 100 years ago that have seen our shire have a clean and reliable water supply.
‘It’s a big responsibility to have to make sure that people 100 years from now can enjoy the same privilege, but with the changing climate and an increase in extreme weather events, that’s becoming harder to deliver’.
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