Secure, Sustainable Water
by Tony Chew (Chair, Task Team)
25 Nov. 2009
Our success in securing $2.37M from the Federal Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts for Stage 1 of the Ballarat Stormwater Harvesting Project is a major step forward in securing a sustainable water supply for Ballarat.
The $2.37M from the Federal Government will match an equivalent amount already committed from the City (and incorporates the $650K received from RDV for the LGL pipeline work). The application for the funding was auspiced by the City of Ballarat.
Whilst the amount of money for the project is relatively small, it will initially accelerate the filling of Lake Wendouree while providing valuable potable-substitute water to service the City’s parks, gardens and sporting reserves. It is anticipated that ~1GL of water pa will be returned to the Lake under Stage 1, 189ML of which will substitute potable supplies.
We have been advised by DEWHA that the second stage of the Project, the ultimate aim of which is to supplement Ballarat’s potable water supply and which was outlined in the initial submission, will require a separate and more detailed submission to be successful for further funding. It is encouraging that the work done by the Water Task Team, with assistance from Assoc. Professor Tim Fletcher (Monash Uni) and Phil Kennedy (City of Ballarat), has resulted in a much more flexible and potentially attractive project for funding. The second stage is also contingent on a $3M funding submission from RDV through the RIDF. Discussions with senior RDV officers and their assistance in drafting the submission suggest confidence in what we are trying to achieve.
The overall project (Stage 1 and 2) will amount to $10.7M and result in approximately 3GL of additional water being returned to or made available for the potable system.
The project brief and submission for Stage 2 is being drawn up quickly in order to be considered for RIDF (State Government) funding, potentially in the December 2009 round. We are planning for it to be recognised in the submission for Federal (DEWHA) funding which is due 10th February 2010
There are still significant issues to be overcome in order to be able to implement Stage 2, not the least clarifying the status of the flood mitigation basin on private land alongside the Yarrowee Creek which will be used to temporarily store captured stormwater prior to routing it to the Gong Gong reservoir. We have already begun discussions with Central Highlands Water to engage their support in principle and/or practice for Stage 2, and to also ensure that the authority assists with advice on testing procedures that will be required for potable use of captured water.
