Infrastructure Imminent: Has Australian Tinderbox Found its Match?

In fire-seared Australia, water is a matter of national security. The government of New South Wales agrees. In concert with public water corporation Actew, it is poised to announce changes to the way the nation flows, literally.

According to the Canberra Times, Actew expects an announcement in two weeks that would allow the corporation to begin building a $100 million pipeline carrying water from the Murrumbidgee River to Googong Dam.

Other plans include use of the Tantangara Dam in the Snowy Mountains for high-security water storage, as well as constructing a demonstration water purification plant. The Cotter Dam project still needs approval, pending its recently filed environmental impact assessment.

In Canberra, New South Wales — a region suffering from more than a decade of drought — water decisions transcend politics: often they become matters of life and death.

A community meeting with resident stakeholders in Burra garnered positive feedback, however concerns still exist regarding the projects’ fairness and efficacy. With Canberra water storage at a mere 46.4 percent of capacity, the region’s continuing twelve year legacy of drought requires immediate government action.

Read more here.

Source: The Canberra Times