Tillegra Dam crisis
Greens NSW MP John Kaye has called on NSW Water Minister Phillip Costa to put the controversial Tillegra Dam on hold until confusion surrounding the project can be clarified. Dr Kaye said: “Water planning in the Hunter is in a crisis. Hunter Water claims that Tillegra is needed to secure water supply for population growth. Yet a new report from BIS Shrapnel appears to contradict this using Hunter Water’s own data to show supply can be maintained for projected population growth until 2031.”
Infrastructure Minister Joe Tripodi claimed that Tillegra was all about drought proofing the Central Coast yet the Mardi-Mangrove pipeline will achieve that. The Mardi-Mangrove pipeline is already set to receive Commonwealth funding and costs a fraction of building a dam.
With IPART being asked to increase Hunter Water bills by 48 percent, Minister Costa needs to step in and get to the bottom of this fiasco.
Hunter Water is seeking to secure water supplies for 60 years into the future when there are alternatives that are much cheaper and can be initiated at a time closer to when they might be needed. This is not about whether the Hunter or the Central Coast should pay for Tillegra. This is about whether the dam should be built at all.
The Greens will be raising the Tillegra Dam crisis in parliament this week in an effort to get the government to get its story straight. Households from both regions could benefit if priority is given to the Mardi-Mangrove pipeline and Hunter Water shelves the Tillegra proposal.
“With one poll showing almost nine out of ten Hunter residents calling for a rethink of the dam, the Rees government would do well to heed local opinion,” Dr Kaye said.
Media release by Dr John Kaye: 0407 195 455