Friday 8 July 2011

Koombooloomba Dam future Cairns water supply

Water from the Koombooloomba Dam, around two hours south of Cairns, should be used to feed into local water supply, according to Queensland Party Candidate for Mulgrave Brendan Fitzgerald. He also proposes the supply to irrigate farmland in the Tully and Innisfail regions

“It is high time we looked into the overall economic security of our region as a whole. Koombooloomba Dam has a storage volume of 205,000 Mg/l and sits above Tully in a very active catchment area," Brendan Fitzgerald says.

Building a pipeline from the dam, elevated to over 700 meters, would ensure significant friction head in the line which translates into low operational costs, the pipeline would also add value to farmland in the area though irrigation.

“A Koombooloomba irrigation system would have benefits for the Great Barrier Reef as well," Queensland Party Candidate for Mulgrave Brendan Fitzgerald says. "Nutrient applications via irrigation are better targeted thereby reducing nutrient runoff also the farmers won’t need to pull water from the aquifers anymore which will help to eliminate salinity problems.”

“We need to put together a 10 year plan with the Local, State and Federal Governments to work towards adding value to our farms and ensuring town water supplies in the area by building this much needed infrastructure that we will have to build one day anyway, I say let’s get on it now and not in 10 years’ time when it’s too late.”

The Koombooloomba Dam was built in the late 1950’s and runs the privately-owned Stanwell Kareeya Hydro Plant.

1 comment:

maskay said...

Aerial view of Koombooloomba Dam http://www.satelliteview.org/satellite/Koombooloomba_Dam