Water thieves must be stopped

The RCoW reports below that water tankers are running council supplied standpipes dry. But its not only tankers. Every morning before 7.00 am, 1000 litres of water is drawn from the Greta West standpipe by the same farmer and who knows how many others are taking more than their share.

Education is not the answer. It must be policed. The RCoW needs to install a permit system just as they have for collecting firewood which is an unlimited resource. With a flow of only 30 litres a minute, the Greta West bore is only capable of filling two tankers a day leaving local farmers high and dry.

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Dec Council Meeting - Item 10.2.4.2 - DROUGHT RESPONSE – WATER POINTS

Background
During the 2002/03 drought, Council, with funding assistance from the State government built and upgraded standpipes and watering points, details of which are attached (refer attachment).

The Wangaratta Livestock Exchange and Apex Park are equipped with standpipes that provide access to treated potable water, at a fee of $1 per thousand litres using a ‘coin in the slot’ facility. The other standpipes and access points to streams have been made available for stock water only, and no fees are
charged by the Council.

The use of the water available through these standpipes and streams are for drought relief purposes; no other uses being allowed for.

Issues
It has been noticed and brought to Council’s attention that a number of concerns about usage of these emergency facilities are being expressed. Examples of these concerns include the use of drinking water (available at Apex Park and the Wangaratta Livestock Exchange) for watering lawns and gardens, large
commercial tankers taking many thousands of litres from stockwater standpipes (to the point where the bores cannot cope with the rate of extraction), and the use of stock water to replenish farm dams rather than stock troughs.

A number of the bores servicing stock standpipes have never produced much more than fairly marginal flows, particularly the bores at Greta West, Springhurst and Bowser. Because of this, these bores do need time to recover. For example, when the Greta West bore was being tested for flow characteristics the results at the time (January 2004) revealed a sustainable pumping yield of only about 30 litres per minute for 12 hours continuous pumping. The Springhurst, Greta West and Boorhaman bores are equipped with 1000 litre metered lots
where users need to physically switch the pump back on after each 1000 litre fill.

However this is not deterring tanker operators to take large fills, causingfrustration for other users and in the instance of the Greta West bore, causes the bore to run dry at times.

Most of the large commercial tankers are generally supplying stock water to local farmers, but anecdotally some are delivering to locations remote from the Rural City of Wangaratta.

A number of users of water from the Rural City of Wangaratta’s supply points are from outside the municipality.
Whilst the intensity of the drought strengthens, the above issues could increase in significance. The potential is high for some aquifers to run dry, and there is the possibility that Goulburn-Murray Water may restrict or ban drawing stock water from rivers and streams.

Consultation
The Drought Committee has discussed the above issues, and advocates that Council initiate measures to ensure that some degree of equity occurs in the availability of water from the water points that are under Council’s control.

Implications
The issues raised have been partially addressed by organising appropriately worded signage at the drinking water standpipes at Apex Park and at the Livestock Exchange, as well as signage depicting a 3000 litre limit per load at the Greta West standpipe. However there is a need to be able to enforce action upon those who choose to ignore the cooperation that is required. As the drought tightens, Council needs to be in a position to ensure that fair and equitable distribution and usage of this increasingly scarce resource available through the
waterpoints under Council’s control may be achieved.

The current approach is to continue to encourage and educate users of these valuable water resource facilities to be fair and considerate of those in desperate need for stock watering and drinking water to be available. Commercial suppliers of potable water are being encouraged to provide their own supply sources rather
than causing longer queues at Council’s drinking water standpipes.

When a drought is occurring, the Council has to be vigilant about discouraging those who abuse these resources, and does depend upon other users to alert Council staff about misuse of the facilities. The enforcement powers available need to be strengthened in the medium term, and should be used when deemed
necessary now.

Recommendation:
That immediate measures be undertaken to restrict the inappropriate use of water from Council-controlled water points.