Utilities
Electricity
Electricity for the Gold Coast is sourced from Powerlink Queensland at bulk supply substations which is provided via the National Electricity Market from an interconnected multi-State power system. The Government-owned electricity corporation Energex distributes and retails electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and value-added products and services to residential, industrial and commercial customers in South-East Queensland.
Water supply The Hinze Dam 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of Nerang is the population's main water supply. The Little Nerang Dam which feeds into Hinze Dam can supplement part of the city area's water needs, and both are managed by the city council directorate Gold Coast Water. Reforms of the way in which the water industry is structured have been announced by the State Government, with transfer of ownership and management of water services from local government to the state occurring in 2008–09. Gold Coast City also sources water from Wivenhoe Dam, west of Brisbane for northern suburbs when the Hinze Dam, at one-tenth of Wivenhoe's capacity, becomes low.
Water shortage and water restrictions have been current local issues, and a few new Gold Coast residential areas have recently included dual reticulation in their planning and development to supply water from a new water recycling plant being built concurrently. This will make available highly treated recycled water for use around the home in addition to potable water. The Gold Coast has received world recognition for this scheme in its Pimpama-Coomera suburbs.
Gold Coast Water has also been recognised for its world leading HACCP water quality management system by the World Health Organisation which published Gold Coast Water's system as a good model for managing water quality and safety from catchment to tap. The Gold Coast desalination plant, which opened in February 2009, has the capacity to supply up to 133 megalitres of desalinated water per day.
Read more about this topic: Gold Coast, Queensland, Infrastructure
Famous quotes containing the word utilities:
“Flowers and fruits are always fit presents; flowers, because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all of the utilities of the world. These gay natures contrast with the somewhat stern countenance of ordinary nature: they are like music heard out of a work-house.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Flowers ... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)