RDATN Regional Water Summit 2020

RDATN Regional Water Summit

The inaugural RDATN Regional Water Summit was held in Cairns on 22 September 2020.

Mayors, Regional Development Organisations and water experts from across the Far North Queensland region came together to develop a unified, long term, regional water strategy that embraces the entire region and covers off on urban, industrial, agricultural, environmental and recreational requirements well into the future.

Projects Examined:

Douglas Shire Council’s alternate raw water intake at Drumsara Quarry site and untreated water storage reservoir

• Construction of alternate raw water intake at Drumsara site on Mossman River providing a secondary source of raw water to treatment plant at times when primary source is restricted by flowrate and licence conditions and detailed design of one gigalitre untreated water storage reservoir.

Cairns Regional Council’s Water Security Strategy

• • Mulgrave – Stage 1 (Including Behana Creek) – New water supply intake on the Mulgrave River to deliver up to 20 ML/d to a new water treatment plant and a new water treatment plant to treat up to 20 ML/d from Mulgrave River and up to 40 ML/d from the existing Behana Creek intake (total 60 ML/d capacity). Costing $198.2m (P50); $225m (P90), the project will yield an Incremental increase in yield attributable to greater utilisation of Behana Creek = 500 ML/a and an incremental increase in yield attributable to the taking of water from Mulgrave R = 3,000 ML/a. It will create 522 jobs in construction, an additional 385 jobs in related industry.  There will be 5FTE ongoing positions to operate and maintain the treatment plant. GRP in Cairns is estimated to increase by $166.67M.
  • Mulgrave – Stage 2 – Augmentation of the Mulgrave River and Draper Road WTP (33 ML/d additional capacity, total 93 ML/d capacity). Costing $75.7m (P50); $88.2m (P90), the project will yield an incremental increase of 2,000 ML p/a and create 204 jobs in construction, an additional 151 jobs in related industry. GRP in Cairns is estimated to increase by $65.34M.
  • Barron River – Stage 1 – New water supply intake, pump station, and pipeline delivering to a new water treatment plant at Kamerunga (25 ML/d). Costing $92.2m (P50); $104.0m (P90) the project will yield 7,500 ML p/a and create 241 jobs created in construction sector, an additional 178 jobs in related industry. There will be 4FTE ongoing positions to operate and maintain the treatment plant.  GRP in Cairns is estimated to increase by $77.04M.
  • Barron River – Stage 2 – Augmentation to water supply pump station and Kamerunga water treatment plant (additional capacity of 25 ML/d, total capacity 50 ML/d). Costing $24.0m (P50); $27.8m (P90) the project will yield an incremental increase of 6,500 ML/and create 64 jobs during construction sector, an additional 48 jobs in related industry. GRP in Cairns is estimated to increase by $20.59M.

Gilbert River Irrigation Project

• Costing $887m (P90), the 323,577ML Gilbert River Dam 30kms west of Georgetown has a nominated yield of 130ML supporting 17,900 hectares of new irrigated agriculture and creating over 370 jobs in construction and 2250 ongoing FTEs.

Lakeland Irrigation Scheme

• Construction of a 195GL hydro powered dam on the westerly flowing Palmer River in Lakeland. The scheme will 80,000ML pa and facilitate 8,000 ha high value crops (16,000 ha indirect) and create 1000 construction jobs and 1200 FTE on completion.

New Chillagoe Bore

• Limited reliability of groundwater from the bores that supply Chillagoe Water Treatment Plant has resulted in Level 3 water restrictions since November 2017. To ensure ongoing water security for Chillagoe, Council has completed investigations into a $2.5 million alternative groundwater supply.

North Johnstone River Diversion Scheme

• The diversion of water from the North Johnstone River to Tinaroo Falls Dam to provide a low capital cost opportunity to improve both yield (30,000ML p/a or more) and reliability of Tinaroo Falls Dam, protecting the viability of existing irrigators on both the Atherton Tablelands and the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area and facilitating higher value produce.

Nullinga Dam

• Construction of a 74GL stand-alone dam costing $1.068 billion on the Walsh River to unlock additional agricultural production worth around $200 million per annum.

Tablelands Irrigation Project (Woodleigh Dam)

• Construction of a 35GL dam costing between $304-$364m at Woodleigh on the Millstream River to irrigate 4,200ha and allow the transition from beef cattle to higher value cropping with estimated benefits to the region of $2.2 billion over the next 30 years.

The FNQ Water Security Project

• Construction of three dams on the Beatrice River, Dirran Creek and North Johnstone River with a combined yield of 380 GL p/a to resupply Tinaroo Dam, augmenting the existing regional water supply.

Outcome

The principal and most urgent concern of participants was the need to secure a long-term solution for the supply of quality water for urban use, with Cairns Regional Council requiring a reactive response to its water requirements within just 5 short years.

There is also a need to secure water for long term viable and sustainable agriculture with the Gilbert River Irrigation Scheme and increased allocation needs for the Tablelands region from a variety  of sources such as the North Johnstone River diversion favoured over the previously popular option of Nullinga Dam.

What is not known however and is critical to the overall strategy, is the cost/benefit and any factors that may arise from any subsequent detailed business case study.

RDA Tropical North Regional Summit and Public Forum – Mareeba

A second public forum involving regional growers, local interest groups, organisations and businesses was held in Mareeba on Thursday, 5 November to gain further feedback and robust input from within the region.  The following additional information was presented on the day.

Feedback and Input

RDA Tropical North invite any input in relation to projects detailed during the summit, to be submitted via email to Danielle Carey, CEO at ceo@rdatropicalnorth.org.au

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