SOUTHEAST Queensland household water bills are being pumped up by $10 million a year to maintain the mothballed recycled water pipeline.
However, the State Government is considering using the $2.5 billion recycling pipeline as a permanent water source when the region needs an extra supply option in the future.
WIPES: Households stung with $16,000 plumbing bills.
SEQWater chief executive Peter Dennis yesterday told a Budget estimates hearing that the cost of caring for the pipeline had been reduced to limit the impact on water bills.
“We have done a lot of work over the last three years at SEQWater to reduce the cost of having that in care and maintenance mode,” he said.
“So currently – it was around $30 million – it’s down to around $10 million a year.”
The so-called Western Corridor Recycled Water Project was a key part of the former Labor government’s $10 billion spending spree on water infrastructure when the region was at risk of running dry almost a decade ago.
Member for Bundamba Jo-Ann Miller. However, the award-winning project, which includes three hi-tech treatment plants and a pipeline from Lowood to Wivenhoe Dam, was mothballed because .....
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