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23 Aug 2005 Plumbing and Drainage and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2621 In Europe it rains a lot. This lends itself to particular types of gardening and particular types of agriculture that are absolutely and totally unsuitable in Australia. In this country we live in very arid conditions. We have, by and large, poor soil and we are very poor when it comes to the quantities of water available to us. That is why we need to conserve water in this country. This important piece of legislation does just that. This bill helps to save water. The Queensland government is working cooperatively with local councils to ensure that Queensland has a workable legislative framework that facilitates this process. The bill provides greater flexibility to local councils by allowing grey water use in garden irrigation. I believe that the member for Hervey Bay was quite correct when he spoke earlier in this House about people in this country not understanding the true value of water. I think it was Oscar Wilde who defined a cynic as a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I think it is fair to say that many Australians simply do not understand the true value of water. In this country, water is scandalously undervalued. The problem was identified quite adequately by the CSIRO. Its land and water unit explained that Australia’s major water resources are in northern Australia and Tasmania, whereas most of our agriculture and people are in south-eastern and mainland Australia. The CSIRO also estimates that the largest consumption of water in this country is in the production of meat and wool. It believes that production of a kilo of beef—and this is quite stunning—requires between 50,000 and 100,000 litres of water, while production of a kilo of clean wool requires a staggering 170,000 litres of water. The figures are even higher when one begins to factor in the amount of water that is lost through drainage and the amount of water that is required for delivery. Some of the crops grown in this country are major water users. The production of a kilo of wheat uses between 715 and 750 litres of water. The production of a kilo of maize uses between 540 and 630 litres of water. Rice production uses far more—between 1,500 and 2,000 litres of water. Figures like these necessitate a serious debate and re-examination of whether we are properly using our water resources. I think these figures make it incredibly clear that we are not. The way in which Australians use water, quite frankly, is nothing short of silly. We need to improve this and to do that we need to educate people. I want to speak very briefly about a resource I visited in Sydney. It is a joint initiative of the City of Sydney and the Marrickville local councils. It is called the Watershed Sustainability Resource Centre. It is an absolutely wonderful facility which is situated on King Street in Newtown. A watershed is a ridge or crest line that divides two catchment areas. King Street, in fact, divides two catchment areas such that the rain that drains to the north of King Street flows to Sydney Harbour while the rain that drains to the south of King Street flows to Botany Bay. This area deals with some significant urban water issues and because of the way in which the drainage works, stormwater pollution is a major challenge. The reason this great resource was named the Watershed is that one meaning of ‘watershed’ is a definitive change or a turning point. Those involved believe that this initiative should provide an inspiration for positive action in the community and are working towards a sustainable future. They have set up a shopfront that provides not only resources but also some wonderfully experienced staff to advise on simple and cost-effective ideas that support sustainable ways of living and the sustainable use of water. One thing that struck me—and I did not fully understand it until I had visited the Watershed—is the problems that can arise if local authorities do not appropriately regulate grey water use. After a lot of rain, a very nasty situation can arise where the local area becomes, quite simply, waterlogged with the type of water one does not necessarily want bubbling back up through the garden. That is why the legislation now before us provides councils with an appropriate way of regulating grey water use in Queensland. I suggest that members who visit the City of Sydney web site should look at the Watershed Sustainability Resource Centre. It is the sort of facility that local authorities throughout Queensland should invest in. It is a wonderful initiative and one that I would love to see replicated throughout Queensland. This is a wonderful piece of legislation and I am delighted to support it. Ms CROFT (Broadwater—ALP) (6.19 pm): It is my pleasure this evening to rise to speak in support of the Plumbing and Drainage and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2005. I know that residents, particularly at my end of the Gold Coast, have been concerned for some time about our ability to conserve water and the issue of drought on the Gold Coast. Mr Speaker, I know that, coming from Mount Isa and the outback, you, like I, would have had instilled in you that you shower quickly, that you do not waste any water and that if your grass is bone dry it does not matter as long as you do not waste any water. On the Gold Coast people try to keep their gardens green. They like to wash their cars to keep them clean. Over the last couple of years we have had to adhere to very strict restrictions that were enforced by the Gold Coast City Council. A number of people have come up to me during my mobile office meet-and-greets asking about the possibility of introducing the use of grey water and how they could use that to reduce their use of water and reduce the cost of their water use.
2622 Plumbing and Drainage and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 23 Aug 2005 The primary purpose of this bill is to allow the use of grey water for watering gardens in sewered areas. The amendments to the Plumbing and Draining Act 2002 will, for the very first time, allow local governments to approve home owners using grey water to water gardens in areas served by a sewer system. As has been mentioned by many members of the House, some risks in the use of grey water have been identified, and managing those risks has been taken into account in this legislation. To manage any risks to public health grey water systems will have to use subsurface irrigation with pipes installed at least 100 millimetres below the surface. This avoids human contact with waste from laundries and showers which can carry traces of human waste. To manage any potential impact on amenity, no storage of grey water will be allowed. I understand that odour can be a problem if grey water is allowed to pool. To manage environmental risks, councils will have to approve all systems and assess whether land is suitable for grey water irrigation. Systems can only be approved for domestic homes where grey water generated is less than 3,000 litres per day and where there is sufficient land to distribute the water. It will also be possible for individual councils to decide whether they wish to receive applications for grey water systems. It is possible that some councils will decide to focus their resources on other water conservation and reuse initiatives such as water recycling. The Gold Coast City Council has done a lot to encourage residents of the Gold Coast to recycle water and to cut down on their use of water. I attended the Gold Coast City Council’s launch of its latest water futures campaign, which features a young girl. The campaign is called ‘When Kate is an adult will we have enough water?’ It is ironic that the day that I went to the breakfast launch was the first day of the rain that we had. I hope that it was a good sign for the Gold Coast. We did get a lot of rain out of that downpour over a week or so. We must not be complacent. We must continue to adhere to the restrictions that the council has enforced. I understand that this legislation will give local councils the power to enforce grey water use. There are a number of areas that local government will be responsible for in terms of the usage of grey water. This legislation goes into greater detail on those. I wanted to comment on what the Gold Coast City Council has done in the past. The previous council and the previous mayor did push their concern about water issues. I understand that the Gold Coast City Council has had great communications with the minister’s office and her department. I would assume that they have been quite supportive of this legislation. I hope that the council will take on board all the recommendations in this legislation and that residents on the Gold Coast look forward to using grey water as another alternative to saving water. I commend the bill to the House. Dr LESLEY CLARK (Barron River—ALP) (6.25 pm): It is with pleasure that I rise to speak in the debate on the Plumbing and Drainage and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2005. It provides a legislative framework for local governments to allow the diversion of grey water from showers, baths and washing machines to underground water systems for irrigating gardens in urban sewered areas. The implementation of this long-awaited legislation has the capacity to significantly increase the efficiency of our use of water. It is only one of a range of demand measurement measures that need to be implemented if we are to use our water resources responsibly and sustainably. As the member for Cook indicated earlier in this debate, I have taken a particular interest in achieving this goal for the Cairns region in the face of a mayor whose only solution to achieving a reliable water supply for Cairns is to build another dam. In 2003 I, with the support of the relevant ministers at the time, initiated a series of water forums in Cairns that were targeted at council, at the community and at industry. One of the important recommendations to come out of those water forums was that Cairns needed to have a least-cost water planning study which focused on the situation in Cairns and how we could move forward in a cost-effective manner. It has been a long time coming, but the Cairns least-cost planning study was released in June of this year. I would like to spend time in my contribution to this debate making reference to this, because it is such an important document for Cairns and very much relates to our sustainable use of water which is a goal of the legislation we are debating here tonight. The study, carried out by MWH Australia Ltd, was a joint initiative of the EPA, Cairns Water and the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. I am very pleased to say that the government contributed financially to this report, indicating our commitment to this area. The study examined the options available on both the supply and the demand side with particular emphasis on the economic costs and benefits related to demand management options. Overall, the study aimed to define the leastcost program of supply augmentations and demand management initiatives for the Cairns water supply to 2044. I think it is really important to emphasise that this study takes us to 2044. It is quite clear that there is no need for a dam in that time frame. I will come back to the question of a dam later in my contribution. A separate study was undertaken during the course of this least-cost planning investigation to review and refine business-as-usual options for system augmentation. I would like to make clear the objectives of a least-cost plan. It is important that people do understand that its objectives are to develop
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PROOF ISSN 1322-0330 WEEKLY HANSARD
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Table of Contents — Tuesday, 23 A
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2536 Papers 23 Aug 2005 PAPERS PAPE
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2538 Ministerial Statement 23 Aug 2
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2550 Scrutiny of Legislation Commit
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2552 Private Members’ Statements
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2554 Questions Without Notice 23 Au
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2564 Members’ Ethics and Parliame
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2566 Matters of Public Interest 23
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2568 Matters of Public Interest 23
Page 39 and 40: 2570 Matters of Public Interest 23
Page 45 and 46: 2576 Constitutional and Other Legis
Page 47 and 48: 2578 Transport Legislation Amendmen
Page 49 and 50: 2580 Transport Legislation Amendmen
Page 51 and 52: 2582 Housing Legislation Amendment
Page 53 and 54: 2584 Education (Queensland College
Page 55 and 56: 2586 Succession Amendment Bill 23 A
Page 57 and 58: 2588 Succession Amendment Bill 23 A
Page 59 and 60: 2590 Queensland Competition Authori
Page 69 and 70: 2600 Racing Venues Development Amen
Page 81 and 82: 2612 Plumbing and Drainage and Othe
Page 89: 2620 Plumbing and Drainage and Othe
Page 99 and 100: 2630 Child Safety Legislation Amend
Page 111 and 112: 2642 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 One pa
Page 113 and 114: 2644 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 years.
Page 115: 2646 Adjournment 23 Aug 2005 Finall
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