11 November 2005
Amendments to Queensland water legislation passed last night will give greater powers to the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines to direct service providers to carry out specified measures or to achieve specified outcomes to deal effectively with water supply emergencies.
The Water Amendment Bill recognises that there is a need in extreme circumstances for the State to intervene in solving water supply shortages and to ensure continuity of supply for essential water supply needs. It will amend the Water Act 2000 to provide a framework that will give the State the power to make necessary directions to service providers (eg. water service providers such as SunWater, SEQWater and local governments and sewerage service providers) in times of extended severe drought and other water supply emergency situations.
The Bill was introduced to Parliament on 25 October 2005, in response to the current drought in South East Queensland and the increasing pressure placed on our water resources by a combination of Queensland's extreme rainfall variability, predicted climate changes and rapid population growth.
The Bill was passed by Parliament on 10 November 2005 and the majority of the provisions of the Bill commence on assent.
The Minister has indicated that the emergency powers contained in the Bill will only be used by the Queensland Government as a necessary last resort measure to address critical water supply shortages. The emergency powers are intended to support other measures (including the requirement for service providers to have drought management plans) currently being undertaken by the State and form part of the State's overall framework for water resource management. The operation of the emergency powers provisions will be reviewed within two years of commencing, as part of the broader urban water policy and planning reviews and reforms currently underway.
The provisions of the Bill are discussed briefly below.
Water supply emergencies
A water supply emergency is defined to be a situation where for a part of the State, there is a "demonstrably" serious risk that essential water supply needs will not be met. Essential water supply needs refer to water supply for three purposes:
If a water supply emergency exists or is developing, the relevant Minister has the power to prepare a water supply emergency declaration directing service providers to carry out specified measures or to achieve specified outcomes to deal effectively with the emergency.
Examples of measures a service provider may be required to undertake include:
Examples of outcomes a service provider may be required to achieve could include:
Water supply emergency directions
Water supply emergency declarations are "short term" directions (effective for up to 15 business days) and will be made where short-term action (eg. such as imposing water restrictions) is required to deal with a situation. Otherwise, long-term directions and directions to be carried out by service providers and/or the Coordinator General must be given in a water supply emergency regulation.
Once a water supply emergency direction is made, the service provider must comply with the requirements of the direction, even if it means that the service provider will be in breach of existing contracts for the supply of water and infrastructure arrangements. The amendments provide a framework for making claims of compensation where a person is affected by actions taken by a service provider in complying with a direction, however, service providers are not liable to pay that compensation. It is payable by the government.
The amendments to the Water Act will also increase the power to impose water restrictions and to enforce compliance with water restrictions. Service providers will be able to restrict the volume of water taken by customers and to apply restrictions on the taking of water from rainwater tanks that are connected to, and supplemented by, water supplied from the service provider's reticulated water supply.
Costs of complying
Service providers will be able to recover from their customers the costs of complying with a water supply emergency direction, including a rate of return, if the direction requires them to pay relevant costs and those costs and the recovery of a rate of return is approved by the Minister. Such costs may be recovered even if it would be inconsistent with existing supply arrangements between the service providers and its customers. The Bill will prevent the Queensland Competition Authority from stopping the authorised recovery of costs by a service provider.
