Water Supply for Cox Peninsula area of Wagait and Belyuen Communities

20/08/2002

9. Water Supply for Cox Peninsula area of Wagait and Belyuen Communities

Mr Maley to MINISTER for Essential Services


QUESTION

1. Minister would you kindly advise the progress of plans to connect Cox Peninsula including the Wagait and Belyuen communities to articulated town water?

2. What enquires have been undertaken to determine the feasibility of piping water under Darwin Harbour so as to supply the Cox Peninsula community.

3. Will your Government concede that connecting to town water for these Communities is a priority and that it will occur within the first term of your Government in accordance with promises made at a public meeting by the Labor Candidate for the electorate of Goyder prior to the 18 August 2001 poll.

4. If the answer to (3) above is no, when can the people of Cox peninsula expect such a commitment.

ANSWER

Answered on 06/05/2004

1. It is assumed the question was intended to refer to “reticulated” town water and not “articulated” town water.
Belyuen currently has a reticulated water supply.

The water supply for the Wagait Beach and adjacent communities is a single point supply and not a reticulated supply. At this time the priority is to develop a more reliable, secure, higher quality water source for this supply. There are currently no plans for development of a reticulated water supply for Waigait Beach which is estimated to cost in the order of $3.5m.

2. Power and Water commissioned engineering consultant, Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey Pty Ltd (GHD Pty Ltd) to examine the possibility of a supply drawn from the Darwin Water Supply via a submarine pipeline across the mouth of Darwin Harbour.
The report was completed in February 2002 and a copy was provided to the Cox Peninsula Community Government Council. The report suggested a submarine pipe would cost in the order of $3.8m to provide a reliable, secure supply for current demands at Wagait.

Given the high cost of this alternative, Power and Water initiated, and funded, a groundwater investigation program which was successful in identifying a groundwater resource approximately 12km west of Wagait Beach. It is estimated that this can be developed at less than half the cost of a submarine pipe.

3. The Belyuen Community has a reliable, secure and safe reticulated water supply.
The highest priority for the water supply for the Wagait Beach community is to source an alternative reliable, secure and safe water supply. Water supply from Imulak Springs is not reliable as the spring ceases to flow during the dry season. This has resulted in Power and Water carting water from Darwin River Dam during the last three dry seasons. In addition the security and safety of this surface water is lower than that from a protected groundwater source.

Production bores have been constructed and tested and Power and Water has formally requested an Extraction Licence for the use of these bores to supply higher quality groundwater to the Wagait community.