Wimmera -
Regional News - Forests and Water, Climate and Waste - August 2006Back to : News Reports - Water | Back to: Regional News - Water | Back to: News reports | Back to : News (Teachers for forests) | Back to: Regional News
| Otways ; | Wombat; |;Gippsland | East Gippsland and Goolengook ; | Central Highlands; | Cobbobonnee; | Mallee; | Box Ironbark; | Bunyip State Forest; | Melbourne; | North East Highlands; | Murray Basin | South West ; | Strezlecki's | Wimmera | Port Phillip
13/09/06 Town reduced to bottled water, Kate Hagan, The Age Wimmera; Aug06
Thwaites undecided on environmental flow, DEAN LAWSON, Wimmera Mail Times Wimmera; Aug06
01/08/06 Rainsford raps water policies, - By DEAN LAWSON, - Wimmera Mallee Times Mallee; Wimmera; Aug06 South West;
Kate Hagan, The Age
September 13, 2006 - 1:05PM
Water fight: fury over $1.5bn water recycle plan
Residents of Wycheproof in north-western Victoria are relying on bottled water to bathe, cook and drink because their water supply is contaminated.
Water authority GWM (Grampians Wimmera Mallee) Water detected an algal bloom, which is suspected to be toxic, in the town's two storages yesterday afternoon and immediately told residents not to use the local water.
GWM Water general manager corporate services Andrew Rose said local cafes handed out bottled water last night, and a tanker was due to arrive this morning for people to fill up their own containers.
"We've sent samples of the water off to laboratories to assess whether or not there is any toxic residue from the algae," he said.
The town obtains its water through a channel system from the Grampians ranges, where storages are down to 6.7 per cent after eight years of drought.
Stage-four water restrictions, which ban all water use outside the home, take effect in the region from October 1.
Mr Rose said the water quality going into the channel system was poor, and deteriorating, as a result of the big dry.
"The channels dry out every year and the first flush of water picks up all the muck," Mr Rose said.
"We try to avoid tipping the dirtiest of the waters into town storages but at some stage you have to put water in (them).
"If there's a high nutrient load and there are traces of algae in the storage already, they will feed on it very quickly and it just grows exponentially."
Mr Rose said it was possible to treat the algae with a chemical, but water could not be used for 10 days after applying it.
He said the water authority and Buloke Shire Council would put contingency plans in place once they had the test results, possibly this afternoon.
"Given the unseasonal warm weather, there's every risk it could occur in other towns as well, so we're monitoring all our storages on a regular basis," Mr Rose said.
theage.com.au
Thwaites undecided on environmental flow
By DEAN LAWSON, Wimmera Mail Times
Thursday, 31 August 2006
STATE Water Minister John Thwaites remained undecided yesterday if he would give the nod for authorities to allow a controversial environmental flow to proceed down the Wimmera River and McKenzie Creek.
Mr Thwaites said on a visit to Warracknabeal yesterday he was still waiting for advice.
He told farmers and local government representatives that the water involved was a `small safety net' amount.
"I'm waiting to get advice on benefits either way. It's not a case of the environment getting the first lick of water," he said.
"I see this issue as two-fold - what are the environmental benefits to get through this period and what are benefits in consumption?
"The preliminary advice I'm getting is this is only enough to supply 280 families.
"I urge people not to think of this water as some sort of panacea."
Many farming and local government representatives who joined Mr Thwaites on Mick Morcom's Warracknabeal district farm, failed to see the justification of an environmental flow when people were short of water.
Victorian Farmers Federation representative and GWMWater central consultative committee chairman Ian McEwen of Donald left no doubt his thoughts on an environmental flow when commenting before Mr Thwaites' arrival.
"It's crazy," he said.
"This is no good for anyone when we're looking at industries closing down."
Mr Thwaites made an 11th-hour decision to delay the 3000-megalitre flow until he investigated the region's water situation.
The Nationals want the government to defer a release for 12 months and use the water to supply house dams on rural properties.
Rainsford raps water policies