Since ACTEW needs permission from four agencies, the ACT, NSW and federal governments, plus Snowy Hydro, before some of what little water there is in Tantangara Reservoir is channelled its way, wouldn't it be sensible to wait and see what the last three of these four organisations say before going ahead with building new suburbs and high-rise?
The ''go-ahead'' in the headlines about Canberra's water supply (''Actew gets go-ahead for $100m water lifeline'', March 26, p1) is based simply on the ACT Government's approval, a foregone conclusion given its obsession with making Canberra bigger for commercial reasons.
Given the historically low levels in Lake Eucumbene, which is essentially where Tantangara's water now goes, and the importance of keeping its levels high enough for the hydro station to operate, what on earth could induce the NSW and Federal Governments and Snowy Hydro to facilitate building new suburbs and high-rises for Canberra when two large cities are clamouring for this electricity?
Despite the ACT Government's apparent belief that Canberra's growth and water projects can keep leapfrogging each other indefinitely, the ACT's water woes will not be over until both large political parties tell their commercial backers that this particular patch of Australia has essentially reached the human carrying capacity imposed by present and future water supply. Pigs might fly.
Ian Clark, Reid
Former National Party MP Peter Cochran is spot on in describing the ACT Government's plan to buy water from Tantangara as 'buying air' (Tantangara water plan just 'buying air', March 27, p2) .The accompanying photo of the dam wall and near empty reservoir attest to the severity of the drought in that region.
Records go back to 1997. In the 1212 years to date the dam's level has remained consistently at 6 per cent to 7 per cent of capacity for almost the entire year.
There is an annual influx of water (snowmelt) in September-November, with a maximum increase in capacity to 32 per cent in 2002.
In the past three years, the level has not risen above 16 per cent. There was no rise in '06 and '07.
Tantangara Dam was built to divert water from the Murrumbidgee River into Lake Eucumbene via a gravity-fed tunnel. That is currently not happening and probably hasn't happened in significant volume during the 12 years for which I can access records.
Tantangara is no longer fulfilling the purpose for which it was created. To suggest that reservoir can now supply Canberra's water into the future is a nonsense, and to spend $100million of taxpayers' money on it is absurd.
Ross Crichton, Yarralumla
The ACT Goverment's answer to Canberra's water supply problem appears to be a misguided gamble covered by political thimble-and-pea spin rather than a realistic plan.
It is gambling against climate change forecasts of diminishing rainfalls by promising an ongoing boost to supply from the currently 93.8 per cent empty Tantangara Dam. I was on the property adjoining Peter Cochrane's recently, where the Murrumbidgee flow out of the dam looked to be barely enough to flush the Parliament House toilets.
If the Government is serious about safeguarding our future water supplies, it should insist that all architects and developers in the ACT (domestic, commercial, and government) plan and build to collect all their outdoor water requirements on site, thus reserving publicly funded, collected and reticulated water for human consumption and community use only.
The individual cost per building during construction would be minimal. The expenditure would give an ongoing boost to our local economy and employment, and a significant contribution to available water supplies would be made (if it ever rains).
Geoff Armstrong, Isaacs
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