22 April, 2021
Boost For Allora In Water Security Plan
Allora will get a major slice of funding from the State Government’s $20 million drought resilience package for the Southern Downs, announced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week.
The package includes $4.8 million in upgrades, including enhanced water treatment, to reconnect groundwater available to the Allora township.
The move will free up to 350 megalitres of the Southern Downs urban water supply out of Warwick.The announcement about Allora came as a surprise to Southern Downs Mayor Vic Pennisi, who said he certainly wasn’t expecting the announcement about Allora. “That will take away some of the pressure on the Leslie Dam site,” Mayor Pennisi said. Other projects in the package include:
$1.4 million to help Southern Downs Regional Council to move a range of industries from using precious urban water supplies to groundwater, including local processing and industrial businesses
$4.54 million to increase Leslie Dam’s usable water capacity by upgrading its pumps and water treatment systems, increasing usable storage capacity by an additional 1700 megalitres
$700,000 to support Southern Downs Regional Council investigations into local groundwater supplies for Warwick, Allora and Stanthorpe, and to support Sunwater’s effi ciency and innovation investigations at Leslie Dam.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said while recent rain had provided much needed relief to the Southern Downs region including good infl ows into Leslie, Connolly and Storm King Dams, it hasn’t been enough to solve long-term water security issues. “In late 2019, in response to low supplies in the region’s dams, my Government committed to plan for a new pipeline from Toowoomba to Warwick,” the Premier said.
“This commitment was in addition to $15 million in emergency assistance provided to cart water into Stanthorpe.“It’s great news that water carting is no longer needed with Storm King Dam now at 100 per cent capacity but our commitment to provide water security to the wider Southern Downs region still stands.
“That’s why today I’m announcing the next step in providing water security for the region with a $20 million Southern Downs Drought Resilience Package.”Water Minister Glenn Butcher said the immediate measures could deliver an additional 13 months of water supply for the Southern Downs communities and industries.
