17th September 2007“The Warrego Water Auction should continue without further political debate,” Member for Warrego Howard Hobbs said today.
“The Warrego water action scheduled for 18th September in Charleville and 19th September in Cunnamulla has now been put on hold for two weeks by the State Government,” Mr Hobbs said.
“There is no sense in having a scientific process to follow, then ignoring it as the last minute,” Mr Hobbs said.
“The Warrego Water Resource Operations Plan involved extensive scientific studies and modelling along with extensive community consultation,” he said.
“The studies and the CSIRO Report found that a further 8 000 megalitres could responsibility be extracted with little impact on the extensive river system,” Mr Hobbs said.
“8 000 megaltres is not a large amount of water and 4 000 megalitres is to be allocated north of Wyandra and 4 000 megalitres to the south,” he said.
“Those people seeking the water are landowners along the Warrego who are looking to value add by undertaking boutique development such as olives or a couple of hectares of crop and will only be able to take water after environmental flows have been catered for,” Mr Hobbs said.
“The total amount of water is not significant in irrigation terms and would fit into one existing ring tank in the Dirranbandi district,” Mr Hobbs said.
“The Warrego River system will have an 89 per cent end of valley flow at the New South Wales border providing a good outcome for downstream users,” Mr Hobbs said.
“New South Wales have always been looking to take Queensland water because of the over allocation in that State,” Mr Hobbs said.
Media contact: Howard Hobbs 46 22 88 88
