24 June 2007News.com.auDarrell Giles
Premier Peter Beattie said an infrastructure briefing paper looked at options such as mobile and small fixed desalination plants, hauling treated and raw water from New Zealand and Tasmania, and enlarging the Tugun desalination plant.
One suggestion from a US company to the Government was to collect water in 100m-long zip-up bags and tow them by ship to drought-affected areas.
Mr Beattie said that plan probably would not suit Queensland's situation.
"We have had all these people making unsolicited supply offers to us," he said.
"We will seek expressions of interest . . . if the drought continues indefinitely . . . whether we might use some of them in the future."
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Infrastructure Anna Bligh earlier this year mentioned some of the alternative measures as options if the southeast ran dry before major water projects came on line by the end of 2008.
Mr Beattie said the measures now would be given serious consideration and costed with a view to implementing the best of them between 2018 and 2025.
"This would only be if the drought continued indefinitely and the rain patterns and the climate change remained really ugly . . . it's very long term . . . but you need to do some of this work pretty early," he said.
"We think, based on the current water grid, we will get through it anyway."
Mr Beattie said a desalination plant mounted on a ship could be moved around Australia to other drought-affected regions.
The Premier said he would talk to other states and the Commonwealth to check their interest.
"It is considered prudent to evaluate the feasibility of such options and to assess their comparative costs and benefits, including delivery timeframe, risk-adjusted costs and reliability," he said.
Mr Beattie said the Queensland Water Commission would look at the possibility of harvesting and treating water, then transporting it to the southeast, and doing the same with raw water.
Ships the size of oil tankers could be used to bring fresh water across the Tasman from New Zealand, from Tasmania or northern Queensland.
He said the Tugun plant, being built and due to be completed by late 2009, could be enlarged by one-third.
"Everyone has got a great idea and we are going to take a look at them . . . some I'm not too sure about," Mr Beattie said.
"We don't ever want to end up in this position again."
