Councils will partner with the State and Federal Government to deliver local infrastructure projects across Queensland that help safeguard water resources and protect the natural environment.
Under the new $211 million Water Infrastructure for Sustainable and Efficient Regions (WISER) initiative, the Cassowary Coast Leak Reduction project in north Queensland will receive $9 million.
This project will upgrade water mains by replacing parts of the ageing pipelines across regional towns Tully, Innisfail and Nyletta, and install infrastructure to help identify and manage future leakages. This will achieve significant water savings of around 588 megalitres per year.
The project is supported by $4 million in matched funding from the Australian Government, through the National Water Grid Fund, and the Queensland Government, with a $978,000 contribution from the Cassowary Coast Regional Council.
“Although our region is in the wet tropics, we still encounter issues around water sustainability and efficiency, due to aging infrastructure,” said Cassowary Coast Regional Council Mayor, Teresa Millwood.
“The investment from all three levels of government is crucial and timely to help us combat the failures we are seeing in our aged reticulated network, which not only impacts the continuity of water supply to our residents, but also sees precious water resources go down the drain.”
The Central Highlands Drinking Water Supply Program in Central Queensland will receive a $5.9 million boost from the funding initiative.
The investment will help upgrade two water treatment plants and will deliver supporting infrastructure, improving the reliability and quality of water supply to the towns of Bauhinia, Capella and Rolleston.
The project will also enable the use of recycled water for irrigation of community spaces, including a school and sporting ground.
The project is supported by $2.3 million from the Federal Government, $2 million from the Queensland Government and $1.6 million from the Central Highlands Regional Council.
“The Central Highlands is a large rural region, so we need to be smart and use technology to improve drinking water quality and reliability in all corners of our council area,” said Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor, Janice Moriarty.
“This $5.9 million water project is expected to generate 5 new jobs, with the project planning to commence in November 2024 and expected to be completed by May 2027.”
The WISER initiative is supporting 23 projects to deliver more efficient and sustainable water use in regional communities across Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.
