Drought-ravaged town runs out of water after company takes thousands of litres
A town that has been ravaged by drought has run out of water just weeks after a Chinese company was given permission to run a commercial water extraction facility in the area.
Stanthorpe in Queensland’s Southern Downs is now dependent on 42 truckloads of water a day that’s brought in from a dam that’s 60 kilometres away.
The local dam for Stanthorpe, town of just 5,000, has dipped to 11 per cent of capacity, with those living in the area limited to 80 litres of water per person a day.
The Southern Downs Regional Council has tightened water restrictions last month just one day after approving the development of a mining operation 40 kilometres away.
The “full-time water carting” from the dam consists of 1.3 megalitres per day and mayor Tracy Dobie says that the operation is the biggest of its kind by Australian local government.
“We've now commenced full trucking of water. There's 14 trucks doing three trips a day,'” she said.
“Council promised the community we would not run out of water.
“The initial stages of water carting went extremely well and without incident. We will now move to full-time water carting to provide water to the Stanthorpe Region.”
The 80-litre water restriction will remain in place despite the water being imported from the dam.
The issue within the town was highlighted further after a farmer was robbed of 70,000 of drinking water by his neighbour.
Andrew Todd, 61, had thieves target his property three times over five months, each time stealing a mass amount of water.
Todd explained to The Courier Mail that he feels sympathetic for his neighbours.
“It's just very sad. You've got to lock your gates now,” Todd said.