.
The Pipeline Facts - Click Here (Warning Large File - 4.6 MB)
The Pipeline Threatens Endangered Species (FOE) - Click Here
HOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Water policy delivers scary possibilities
Kenneth Davison - The AGE
The pipeline is designed to deliver water to Melbourne from the already stressed ... say the same thing about the Brumby Government's water policies? ...
Denying recycling just won't hold water | theage.com.au
Kenneth Davison - The AGE
4 hours ago - This is equal to a quarter of Melbourne's water demand, currently 380 ... to $600 million if it used the pipes purchased for the north-south pipeline. ...
Tim Holding should lift lid on cost of water plan | Herald Sun
18 hours ago - LAST Friday Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding said he would not be sending cleaned-up poo and other waste water to the Latrobe Valley to be used to cool ...
DSE Exposes "The Great Brumby Pipeline Lie"
19th June 2009
Extract From Pipeline Figures All At Sea
Melissa Fyfe THE AGE
June 21, 2009
http://www.theage.com.au/national/northsouth-pipeline-figures-all-at-sea-20090620-crz2.html
THE basic assumptions used to predict the amount of water to be delivered to Melbourne from the north-south pipeline have "now proven to be wrong", Victoria's top water adviser has admitted. The managing director of the Government's Office of Water, David Downie, said factors such as expected flows, water quality and rainfall predictions for the pipeline and irrigation projects had undergone "substantial changes" since April last year.
Mr Downie made the admission while giving tribunal evidence in a freedom-of-information case last week. His evidence also contradicted the Water Minister's announcements on when the controversial pipe and desalination plant would be finished.
He said Melbourne Water had told the department the pipe would not be completed until at least the middle of next year, while Water Minister Tim Holding told Parliament last month that water would flow down the pipe as "early as February 2010".
Mr Holding refused to answer any questions on the record about Mr Downie's evidence and also refused requests for the correct assumptions the Government is now using to predict the flows from the north-south pipeline…………………………..
Our View:
From the very beginning, Plug the Pipe has always maintained the 'irrigation savings don't exist’ to supply 75 billion litres of water to Melbourne through the North South Pipeline. DSE's acknowledgement of this fact under present conditions in yesterdays AGE article by Melissa Fyfe simply confirms The Great Brumby Pipeline Lie. Also in that article, DSE claimed that conditions have only recently changed which is blatantly false and is a thinly veiled attempt to cover up the enormity of their deception or blunder. The water lost from the irrigation districts has not significantly changed since the announcement of the project. Equally offensive is DSE's defence in blaming the errors in water saving calculations on junior staff, a cowardly statement of low credibility considering the magnitude and complexity of the multi-billion dollar water plan.
The Brumby Government has acted with either unfathomable incompetence or with extreme dishonesty by its unwavering line that irrigation water savings will be achieved to supply 'new water' for Melbourne, the Murray Darling Basin crisis and Victoria's drought affected food producers.
The North South Pipeline was painted as the saviour through the Premiers 'New Water' for all but has turn out to be just a cruel deceptive trick that even the originally misguided can now see through.
The question remains, how many lies and blunders can a Government make on water before it damages their credibility and electability?
The North South Pipeline will be a major election issue in the minds of the average Victorian as they head to the polls next year. They will be thinking the promise of water nirvana and the reality of water hell as the pay more for water they did not receive from a dry pipe. Farmers and environmentalists will be thinking the same thing and we will be there to remind them all not to forget.
Plug the Pipe
How much water do you use? It is not just the amount billed to you by your water company - Water Footprints Click HERE
Against the flow
By Jo Chandler , June 7, 2008
BARLOW also objects to the water trading that allows big agribusiness to soak up a growing share of water supply, and the notion of large-scale water diversions ? pumping and piping water around states or nations, from where it exists in nature to the big cities, industries, or agricultural areas where it's consumed. Such scenarios set the needs of rural, indigenous and farm communities against urban centres, she argues ? an observation echoed in the angry bush push against a north-south pipeline in Victoria.
"These are very hard questions that have to do with the global systems, and global values of economic globalisation. Local communities know this, they know that something is profoundly wrong."
From the Age's, Grim days ahead for the Murray - National Rural News ...
Maude's Quote : " This is about the stupidest idea I have come across in a long, long time.."
CLICK HERE TO Listen
Topher's Unpopular View is Very Popular
12,000 People have Viewed this Video
5th Most Viewed News YouTube Video Last Week. This dynamic young man has taken it on to produce a Youtube video about the North South Pipeline. Simple, Funny, Excellent - worth a watch.
Melbourne will use water from the stressed Murray River via the North South Pipeline. The pipeline is approved by both the Rudd and Brumby Governments. Click Here.
CHECK OUT
Melbourne should use stormwater: expert 3 Jun 2009 ....Former Victorian water minister, turned sustainability boffin, John Thwaites, says stormwater is a cheap, green water source that has been underutilised.
State water targets rely on rising rainfall level years for water targets assigned to the north-south pipeline and food-bowl
Melbourne Water’s Crocodile Tears
15th May 2008
Melbourne Water media release, “Call to Drop Attack on Sugarloaf Workers” urges Plug the Pipe to drop charges on pipeline workers is yet another example of Melbourne Waters attempts to mislead the public and the media. Plug the Pipe has not brought any charges against pipeline workers. Charges have in fact been laid by individual pipeline route land holders.
It is breath takingly hypocritical that Melbourne Water can say “they are going after ordinary workers” when only two months ago they threatened an opposition staffer requesting information about Sugarloaf pipeline for a simple clerical error [1]. Melbourne Water has being playing hard ball all along and for them to fall to their knees and say ‘we are good blokes’ just does not cut it for those aware of their history.
The Landholders along the pipeline route have been grossly mistreated by Melbourne Water since the inception of the project. For Melbourne Water to say “The workers and contractors had a crystal clear right to enter the properties in question” is what the landholders are disputing. And for Melbourne Water to say “requirements under the Water Act were meticulously followed” reeks of crocodile tears – “we have been good, haven’t we”. The reality is quite different. Attached (Click Here) is a letter of apology from the Sugarloaf Alliance (an arm of Melbourne Water) to a landholder whose land they invaded, clearly these workers acted in an improper way and trespassed. Please contact Plug the Pipe for more information.
If the workers are found guilty of the charges brought against them, it is Melbourne Water who will bear the full responsibility for their plight by having instructed them to do something illegal. Obviously Melbourne Water is very worried as it thinks it may lose but the issue here is “Should the rights of the little person be abandoned by a fast tracked project because neither Melbourne Water nor the State Government have adequately planned for Melbourne’s water needs”
Media Contacts
Jan Beer (Plug the Pipe)
Mobile : 0407 144777
References
[1] Court threat over FOI request | The Australian
21 Mar 2009 ... against Clay Manners, an adviser to Nationals leader Peter Ryan, ... Despite earlier claims that the pipeline would deliver up to 75 ...
Finally the truth is coming out
20th March 2009
For a long time, Plug the Pipe has been attempting to inform all Victorians that the State Government's north south pipeline (Goulburn River to Melbourne) is a nonsense. The Age Newspaper, March 20 highlights that top water officials are expecting the north south pipeline to deliver much less water than promised. In fact the article indicates that only 10GL of water will be available in 2011.
In 2010 the State Government is prepared to sell us all short in an attempt to win the next state election by claiming it will send the full 75GL (75 billion litres) of water down the pipe from savings to be made in the Foodbowl Modernisation Project even though only 10GL has been recovered to date.
To get 75GL, the State Government has stated that they will store environmental water in Lake Eildon from other projects undertaken to improve river health. These projects were completed to increase environmental flows to the Snowy and Murray Rivers.
The State Government is prepared to transfer environmental water entitlements (water not transferred physically) from one area to another to ensure that Lake Eildon has enough to turn on the pumps prior to the next election. The State Government will have first grab at the water from the Goulburn River system below Lake Eildon Weir for its pipeline to Melbourne. The Independent Auditor General raised serious questions about the project and in particular its reliance on projected savings from the Foodbowl Modernization Project that consisted of lining 5% of the irrigation channels with black plastic and replacement metering. The amount of water claimed that would come from this work is just not there, it never was, it is all spin. The Victorian Government has shown deplorable governance principles in spending taxpayers money. Further, it shows the complete disregard by the Victorian Government, the Premier and his Water Minister for due and proper process. Remember that the project was announced as a done deal without any involvement from the general public, scientific evidence or scrutiny. The Foodbowl Modernization Project smacks of social engineering as a major focus of the State Government. The Government wants the removal of 800 dairy farms and small mixed farm businesses from the foodbowl region and now the talk about Swan Hill and Mildura being the first climate change victims due to a lack of water (Age, 13/3/2009).
The Goulburn River is currently supplying Bendigo/Ballarat through the Goldfields Superpipe. Recent announcements from Central Highlands Water is that further regional centers will be added to the Superpipe water grid, all to be supplied from the Goulburn River. No wonder Swan Hill and Mildura are being threatened. Down the track the north south pipeline is also earmarked to supply water to the Greater City of Geelong.
The Government is pitting rural and regional areas against one another.
We must seriously ask ourselves, what value do we place on healthy river systems, our food production in Victoria and rural people living and working in country Victoria? What are our values with regard to water resources generally? We cannot be complacent anymore.
The real concern is the privatization of our water resources. The money is in the transfer and trading of water, who can pay the most or who will have to pay. The most aggravating part of this fraud is that partial decentralization of water supply through sustainable means like rain water tanks and recycling are being ignored as it would make it difficult to tax and for big business interests to make financial returns.
REFERENCES
Vic pipeline now a pipe dream as water forecasts dry up - State ...
The only year the pipeline is expected to achieve its goal of delivering 75 billion litres to Melbourne is 2010, the same year the Brumby Government will ...
Exodus fears for Murray towns - National Rural News - Agribusiness ...
Speaking at a water conference in Melbourne yesterday, Department of ... "We think of climate change refugees as groups out in the Pacific Ocean on atolls about to be ... Mr Fitzpatrick did not name towns, but the comments were a clear ...
We can't keep it all: Murray-Darling expert - National Rural News ...
Mr Brumby said lifting water trading limits would suck the water and the wealth out of those regions. .... Vic pipeline now a pipe dream as water . ...Time to dither about the Murray has run out
The AGE Editorial , June 21, 2008Senator Wong perhaps does not wish to give any hint that she might be preparing to be the minister who signs the death warrant of internationally acclaimed wetlands, and Mr Holding is a member of a Government noted for not bending to public criticism. But at the very least, the parlous state of the Goulburn revealed in the audit justifies a reassessment of the pipeline plan.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL REPORT
The North South Pipeline from The Murray Darling Basin to Melbourne is an Issue of National Importance
The Victorian Labor Government is insistent on building a pipeline from the Goulburn River across the Great Dividing Range to Sugarloaf Reservoir. This pipe is known as the North South Pipeline (NS Pipeline). The 75 billion litres of water in the NS Pipeline will leave the Murray Darling Basin to support Melbourne’s consumption. In Northern Victoria, the removal of the water will have drastic and detrimental effects on the farming areas, the social fabric of the region, the environment.
Essentially this pipeline will remove billions of litres of water from the Dry North affecting the Goulburn and Murray Rivers and many rural communities. This has been done without consultation and without mandate by an unelected Premier whose government's draconian style has alienated 100,000's of people in country Victoria at a time of extreme drought and suffering.
The Plug the Pipe Group was formed in June 2007 and now has over 3000 members (and growing) consisting of environmentalists, farmers, tourist operators, businessmen, urban and rural people. Our membership traverses the state from Mildura in the North West to Yea in the North East. Please Join Us.
Melbourne will use water from Eildon Dam, a dam which has been near empty for over ten years. The Eildon Dam feeds the Goulburn and Murray Rivers. Click Here
Recent Murray River Related Media Headlines
River towns brace for water crisis | theage.com.au
River towns brace for water crisis ... Those towns, like Adelaide, take their drinking water from the Murray, and local water officials said work had ..
Record low inflows to the Murray | theage.com.au
Worst-case scenario becoming a reality for theMurray River, with new data revealing inflows to the river for first quarter 2009 the lowest since records ..
AdelaideNow... 800km algal bloom chokes River Murray along NSW/Vic ...
... had been classified as "red alert" and was potentially toxic. ... "You could get another algae bloom further west," Mr Costa said. ... neutralise the algal toxins but the drinking supplies in towns in the area are not contaminated ...
Murray too low to meet basic needs | The Australian
14 Apr 2009 ... THE Murray River does not have enough water to secure critical human needs for 2009-10, with the situation likely to worsen amid forecasts ...
Exodus fears for Murray towns | theage.com.au
Northern Victorians are in danger of becoming Australia's first climate change refugees, according to a top Brumby Government water official.
Longest, hottest drought on record, says Bureau of Meteorology
Longest, hottest drought on record, says Bureau of Meteorology. Posted On Oct 13 Environment Add comments. THE long drought affecting southern Australia is ...
Truckloads of fish dying in the Murray | The Daily Telegraph
20 Feb 2009 ... HIGHER temperatures and a lack of constant water flow in the Murray River are killing scores of "priceless" Murray cod.
Murray River 'cancer' creeps northward | The Australian
30 Aug 2008 ... THE "cancer" of the Murray -- acid sulphate soils -- has spread to the river system's northern catchments in Queensland where up to 200 ..
Quotes from our Guest Book
As a Koorie I think that the Brumby Government is a disgrace. The Goulburn river was never meant to flow over the Great Dividing Range. It offends my heritage, spiritual beliefs and threatens evidence of my peoples existence. Bulldozer Brumby - Just run over another Blackman!
Michael, Melbourne
I am against the "pipe" as it is a shortterm reactive measure by the current government to a long term problem that governments have turned a blind eye to in the past. If they truly want to put the pipe inplace and look after the areas from which they are draining the water from, let them give some positive news to the local areas ie ensure that Lake Eilden is filled first - to 100%, this will give the local communities a fall back position if water does run low or out. The pipe could then be a partially viable proposition. For the long term the government needs to think things through and get Water Ministers who know what the subject is all about and not newly appointed politicians who come into portfolios the subject matter of which they have not knowledge waht so ever.
Andrew Roff, Berwick
Short sighted, short termed, slow death!
Simon Kennedy, Numurkah
Over the last few years it has been hard enough for the farmers, households, employment etc. Mr brumby have you know shame, how dare you remove these people's lively hoods, who do you really think you are?. I am an a member of 4 generations of family in the Eildon area. I also know how hard it is to try and survive with very little water let alone make a living. PLEASE RECONSIDER
Kathy Taylor, Tabourie Lake, NSW
The Food Bowl Steering committee draft report make astounding reading and it is frightening to realise that many of the members are dairyfarmers with significant influence in the industry. On page 31 of the report, it states "The number of dairy businesses will continue to decline but produce 50% more milk. Farms will increase from the current 200 cow average to say 400 cows." If farms are milking 100% more cows and only producing 50% more milk thheir efficiency will be declining rapidly.
Neil Pankhurst, Tongala
How ridiculous to rob the farmers of water needed to grow crops just so Melbourne people can flush toilets! I have rain water tanks at home and run the entire house from them for at least 9 months of the year. If all Melbournians did the same, Brumbys' stupid pipeline would be redundant.
Russell Bunce, Oakleigh
Please don't take away the farmer's water!
The residents of Melbourne should be encouraged to use less water - it's not an unending resource. We in Canada, who are blessed with a tremendous supply of fresh water, have to learn to curb our use as well. Don't start taking from Peter to pay Paul!!
Alison MacIntosh, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Keep up the effort, If we fail, would the last one to leave the "Foodbowl" Shut off the lights please.
Kevin Bourke, Nathalia