Govt papers expose hidden agenda
THE State Government was secretly investigating the possibility of hooking up Tillegra Dam to the Sydney water supply just 8 weeks after announcing the project in late 2006.
Documents uncovered by Greens MP John Kaye show that in January 2007 the former Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability sought a quote from Hunter Water Corporation’s commercial arm, Hunter Water Australia, to assess the feasibility of transferring water from Tillegra to the Sydney network.
Hunter Water Australia provided a proposal to do the study for about $30,000. Department infrastructure and funding senior manager Mike Partlin recommended his director-general, Mark Duffy, approve the proposal and sign a letter of engagement.
The Hunter Water Corporation and Hunter Water Australia have declined to comment about the project.
A spokesman for Water Minister Phillip Costa admitted that a report on the creation of a water grid spanning from the Illawarra to the Hunter was produced. It would not be released, because it was classified as cabinet in-confidence. The spokesman said it was estimated the link would cost $1.9 billion to build and was therefore not feasible. The pipeline proposal was based upon raising the Tillegra Dam wall by 5.5 metres, which would have increased its capacity from 450 gigalitres to 600 gigalitres.
“This fact reinforces additional storage is required to secure the Hunter’s water supply and an expansion of Tillegra Dam would be required to create the water grid,” the spokesman said.
Dr Kaye, who uncovered the secret proposal as part of a call for papers on Tillegra Dam, said the documents proved the Government was desperate to justify the Tillegra announcement.
“Having announced the project, they were prepared to even look at the absurd notion of pumping water to Sydney to find a justification,” he said.
“Hunter Water engineers surely knew this would have been outrageously expensive.”