“This is comprehensive planning for the future. Palaszczuk told media the state needed water from both recycling and desalination – but refused to answer whether that judgment was based on advice from Seqwater. The government said its decision to focus on desalination was due to the ability for water to be pumped directly into the grid, rather than requiring treatment. Guardian Australia understands the state had been seriously considering expanding the recycled water scheme, and that some senior employees of the water supply authority, Seqwater, had been pushing that outcome.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup It was placed on care and maintenance under the Newman government, and has yet to produce any water for household use, though it is used for some commercial and industrial purposes. However, critics have pointed out the state’s existing 59 gigalitre Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme is being left largely dormant, with no immediate plans to recommission the $2.7bn project.īuilt as part of the Beattie government’s response to the millennium drought, the western corridor scheme is the country’s largest recycled water infrastructure. “I’m pretty sure that for an extra few dollars a day will be more than comfortable to do that than run out of drinking water here in south-east Queensland,” he said.