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The Closure of Melbourne’s North-South Pipeline: A Case of Hydraulic Autarky Professor Lin Crase Director Centre for Water Policy and Management

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Introduction

Why the pipeline matters

Past choices = future prices

Current choices = close off options for planning water supplies

History of pipeline (briefly)

Water entitlements and customers’ bills

Melbourne’s Water Future (includes peri-urban Melbourne)

Concluding remarks

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The historical context

Dry in early 2000s

The ‘once in a century’ deal

Pipeline @ $625m

Infrastructure ‘upgrades’ in return for water entitlements

$300m from Melbourne

225 Gigalitres with 75 for Melbourne

Commonwealth funded stage 2 (another $1b)

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But

Nov 2011 pipeline plugged

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Cost?

$625m passed through to customers in Melbourne

$100m per retailer also passed through

But 75 Gigalitres by 2010 = 52 Gigalitres by 2012/13

Hard to genuinely ‘save’ water

Entitlement less 5% for evaporation and first to spill

Can sell allocation (circa $1m wit h approval and buyers) but less

$700k bulk water fees + $500k Urban Storage Fee

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Future choices – Living Victoria and Melbourne's Water Future

By accessing all water resources available in Melbourne, we can reduce our reliance on using water from other parts of the State where it’s also needed, like in our farming and regional communities. This would also reduce pressure on our stressed river systems (DEPI 2013, p. 1).

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Melbourne’s Water Future – OLV

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Benefits and Costs of Melbourne’s Water Future???

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Concluding remarks

Hard to reverse infrastructure choices

Too easy to get it wrong

Apparently easy to perpetuate mistakes and mistruths

Thank you

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