Brisbane and Gold Coast
Water storage, treatment and bulk supply for Brisbane is handled by SEQ Water, which sells on to Brisbane Water for distribution to the Greater Brisbane area. Water for the area is stored in three major dams; Wivenhoe Dam on the Brisbane River, Somerset on the Stanley River and North Pine on the North Pine River. Water is also provided by a number of smaller dams that are connected via the SEQ Water Grid. The Wivenhoe Dam is shared with the Gold Coast, which has two more water sources, the Hinze Dam and the smaller Little Nerang Dam, both on the Nerang River. Groundwater from North Stradbroke Island is also transferred to the mainland to supplement the area's water supply. Gold Coast Water has commenced construction of a desalination plant at Tugun which was commissioned in 2009. A Southern Regional Pipeline is also under construction that will share Gold Coast water with the rest of South East Queensland. The construction of Traveston Crossing Dam and an associated long-distance pipeline as well as a pipeline from the existing Boondooma Dam have also been proposed to provide the growing population of Southeast Queensland with water.
The A$2.5 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Project whose construction began in 2006 includes the construction of three new wastewater treatment plants, 200 km of pipelines and 12 pumping stations. It will provide reclaimed water to industrial users, agricultural users and to supplement drinking water supplies in Wivenhoe Dam.
A severe drought in 2005-2007 triggered major investments, including the Tugun desalination plant and the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project. When rainfall became abundant in 2008-2010 and reservoirs were full, the state government decided in 2010 to put the Tugun plant in stand-by mode, operating at less than 10% of capacity, and to close down a new advanced wastewater treatment plant on Gibson Island in order to save power and chemicals.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Australia, Water Resources and Water Use
Famous quotes containing the words gold and/or coast:
““The idols have seen lots of poverty,
Snakes and gold and lice,
But not the truth....””
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Have we even so much as discovered and settled the shores? Let a man travel on foot along the coast ... and tell me if it looks like a discovered and settled country, and not rather, for the most part, like a desolate island, and No-Man’s Land.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)