Brumby's poor water report card

The Nationals

Wednesday, 3 March 2010

The Brumby Government’s failure to plan for appropriate water infrastructure has led to a series of ill-conceived projects such as the north-south pipeline, a report released by Engineers Australia shows today.

Shadow Minister for Country Water Resources and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said the report was a damning assessment of the Brumby Government’s performance across key areas of water infrastructure including potable water, stormwater, wastewater and irrigation.

“The report shows Labor failed to act on the water crisis or to address ongoing water restrictions until it was too late,” Mr Walsh said.

“Taxpayers are now forking out millions of dollars for expensive and unnecessary projects because John Brumby failed to plan for the state’s water needs.

“Worse still, Engineers Australia believes planning to achieve major changes in water supply and use is still not evident, meaning additional desalination plants may be needed in the future.”

In a series of forthright criticisms, the report found:


• The Wonthaggi desalination plant may not have been needed if other sources of water supply had been pursued seriously since the 1990s;


• The best value water solution may not have been selected in several major water augmentation projects;


• The government should have implemented a state-wide urban stormwater strategy;


• The government’s failure to find uses for billions of litres of Class-A recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant is a waste of valuable water; and


• Water savings from irrigation projects may have been over-estimated.

Mr Walsh said the report backed the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition’s calls for increased use of stormwater.

“This report confirms that Labor’s water policies have been wasteful,” Mr Walsh said.

“John Brumby has spent millions of dollars on the north-south pipeline and the Wonthaggi desalination plant when he could have harvested stormwater from Melbourne’s own catchment.”

Mr Walsh said the report also validated concerns that the Brumby Government had overstated the water savings available from its irrigation projects.

“This report confirms that the Brumby Government cannot be trusted to manage Victoria’s water,” Mr Walsh said.

Media contact: Peter Walsh (03) 5032 3154 (03) 5032 3154