South East Queensland Water Strategy released

The Queensland Water Commission’s draft South East Queensland Water Strategy – released on 26 March 2008 – is designed to meet the region’s water supply needs for the next 50 years. South East Queensland includes the major urban areas of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. The Strategy outlines a long-term plan aimed at guaranteeing future water supply, including:

• Target 230 – the Commission’s permanent residential water-usage target
• Businesses striving for best practice water use
• New climate resilient water supplies like purified recycled water and desalination schemes
• Drought response plans so medium level restrictions occur no more than once every 25 years on average
• Power stations and major industrial customers using recycled water where available
• Additional water supplies for rural production