Thorley always said Water Futures was the cheapest. Acland Coal’s refusal to take the RO waste stream meant that the project cost would at least double. So it would no longer be the cheapest option. Therefore her argument was flawed.

Read the NO case – the other options (less costly than Water Futures) are right there.

It does leave one question – why wouldn’t Thorley allow the Water Futures costings to be independently assessed – not the other options – Water Futures itself. Beattie’s report just assumed they were correct and added 10%. Why so nervous of an independent assessment?

“How high would rates be then?” – sooner of later the line has to be drawn, and if that involves paying more for water, then thats what its going to have to be. Do you expect the price of water, for the household, to be decreasing in price in the midst of the worst drought on record? Come on, common sense here. No matter what happens, all of us are going to have to pay extra for water because of a lack of forward planning by the State Government.

How about we weigh this up on a scale of common sense. “…where was the RO waste stream going to go. Where was Thorley going to hide it?” On one hand we have (a)Toowoomba, a beatifual city with no water, parched and dying because of a kiddy “yuck factor” campaign (I never mentioned a scare campaign, just a lack of common sense one) against recycled water, or (B) Toowoomba, a beatiful town with a good source of water, marred only by ONE place where waste has to go in order to maintain ourwater. A little sacrifice. Seeing as I personally need water to live a healthy life, Ill choose option (B). Again, its a small sacrifice.

So just think about it, in the end, we are going to have to pay more money for water in the future no matter what happens. And until a cheaper solution comes to hand, “No” voters should grow up and take a perfectly (although maybe expensive) good source of water. It might seem expensive now, but when if you had no water, you would pay any amount for it.

“You will be surprised at how quickly other water source options are now adopted for Toowoomba.” If you could kindly point these out, I would be glad to read them. I found it a bit odd that you didnt include them in the first place. Maybe those other water source options aren’t coming along so quickly then?

The Water Futures project was never a solution – where was the RO waste stream going to go. Where was Thorley going to hide it? Acland Coal didn’t want it. Without their involvement, the project’s cost doubled. How high would rates be then?

You will be surprised at how quickly other water source options are now adopted for Toowoomba.