ACTEW’s Mark Sullivan has launched a defence of the Murrumbidgee to Googong Water Transfer which is starting construction next week after epic regulatory delays from every level of Government.
ACTEW Managing Director Mark Sullivan said delays to the project had resulted in a modest 3% increase to the budget. Mr Sullivan said: “Working with our alliance partners, we have been able to keep the budget to $154.5 million – up only 3% from the original budget, which is close to the inflation rate and an excellent result given the delays”.
The Murrumbidgee to Googong Water Transfer involves transfer of up to 100 megalitres of water per day from the Murrumbidgee River through a 12 kilometre underground pipeline to Burra Creek in NSW. The water will then flow approximately 13 kilometres along Burra Creek into Googong Reservoir. The project is a key component in ACTEW’s long term plan to ensure water security for the region and will allow ACTEW to draw water allocated to the ACT from the Murrumbidgee River and store it in Googong, the region’s biggest reservoir which has the most unreliable inflows and is the most affected by drought.
The upshot to this will be that Canberra will be able to outbid the irrigators of the Murray Darling Basin in a water emergency to keep drinking water flowing.
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