This article was published on the North Queensland Conservation Council’s blog on November 19, 2016, as the fourth post in their water security series, addressing an issue which none of the first three looked at.
In the first, Gail Hamilton introduced our water supply and then-recent studies on its ability to cope with expected population growth. Part two, “Hell’s Gate Dam – Water Wonderland or Pipe Dreams?” by Vern Veitch explores dam infrastructure options, and part three summarises information shared by Townsville Enterprise Ltd. about the Hell’s Gate Dam feasibility study at NQCC’s 2016 AGM and forum.
My post is still on the NQCC site but I wanted it on Green Path as well and added it in May 2020. I have updated links where possible, but have chosen not to update the text and have published it under its original date.
When I read Gail Hamilton’s post six weeks ago I agreed with nearly all of it but noticed a gap which was potentially important, i.e., the impact of climate change on our water security: the ‘Regional Water Supply Security Assessment’ from the Department of Water and Energy Supply [DEWS] (2014), upon which she relied for her ‘current situation’ section, didn’t consider climate change effects at all.
[Note, Jan 2022: All links to DEWS pages have broken and have simply been removed although the documents may still exist at different URLs.] Continue reading “How will climate change affect Townsville’s water security?”