Or actually the opposite, Yass is running dry too. It is believed that the name "Yass" comes from the Aboriginal word yahr which translates to running water. But Yass, like its regional neighbour Goulburn, is facing water shortages. The Yass Valley Council recently set Stage 3 restrictions , and has no long term answer other than to restrict local water connections at the rate of twenty a year until 2010.

In February 2005, Katrina Hodgkinson moved a motion for the NSW Government to provide urgent assistance to Yass Valley Council, and the towns of Yass, Binalong and Bowning, to solve their long term water supply issues. Hodgkinson represents Burrinjuck which contains both Yass and Goulburn within its boundaries. The Hansard of the motion contains some detailed information on the state of the water supply.

Yass Shire Water Supply

On February 24th, 2005 Katrina Hodgkinson moved the motion to have urgent assistance to the Yass Valley Council to provide a long-term solution to the town's water supply;

Water supply in Yass and the surrounding villages of Binalong and Bowning remains precarious. At full storage the Canberra water supply has the capacity to supply the nation's capital with normal water usage for 8 years. But the township of Yass is in a much more precarious and tenuous position. Under extreme drought conditions and without the implementation of water restrictions the capacity of the Yass Dam is sufficient to supply average summer demand for only three to four months. The Yass Dam across the Yass River - a concrete arch about 12 metres high with a crest length of about 98 metres and an effective storage capacity of approximately 850 megalitres - is located just upstream from the township of Yass. The Yass water supply depends totally on the flow of the Yass River.

The catchment extends from the top of the escarpment along Lake George and includes the villages of Sutton, Gundaroo and parts of Murrumbateman. Overall, the catchment for the Yass Dam covers approximately 159,000 hectares. When the Yass Dam was built in 1927 to serve a population of about 2,000 it had a capacity of 1,100 megalitres. Over the past 10 years demands on the Yass Dam catchment area have grown significantly. The population of the Yass Valley area is now more than 13,000, about half of whom depend on the Yass town water supply. Sutton, Gundaroo, Murrumbateman and the area of Yass closest to the Australian Capital Territory have become intensively developed as small rural lifestyle blocks have proliferated. The size of each of those blocks is usually between five and 20 hectares. Most of them contain at least one residence and at least one dam. Over the past 10 years more than 8,000 dams have been constructed upstream of the Yass Dam catchment. All of those residences and dams impact on the water flow in the upper Yass River.

Simply put, less water flow means less flushing of salt and decreased water quality. Less flushing of the river means increased siltation in the upper river and an increased danger of heavy siltation of the Yass Dam during flash flooding or other heavy rains. This is not theoretical but the real situation in Yass at this very moment. From its original capacity of 1,100 megalitres the Yass Dam now has a usable capacity of only 850 megalitres. In the past five years the Yass River below the Yass Dam has ceased to flow altogether during the summer months. John Betts, who lives just south of the Yass River, has been an outspoken advocate of the need to increase water in the Yass River. The Yass town water supply has lost almost one-quarter of its effective storage capacity because of siltation. Without effective action to ensure a long-term adequate water supply for Yass, the situation will only deteriorate. Putting aside the water quantity, serious concerns have been raised about the quality of the Yass town water supply.

Hodgkinson notes that she raised this issue in May of 2004 when Yass and the surrounding area were on Stage 4 water restrictions. The Carr Government did fund the sinking of test bores. Another possible solution raised was the laying of a pipeline from the Good Hope area to Yass. Hodgkinson mentions in her motion that she is in favour of running a pipeline from the ACT's water system to Yass.

Steve Whan of the Monaro electorate responded;

The most important issue is to ensure that if the water supply is taken from the Murrumbidgee River, there is actually enough water flowing down the Murrumbidgee River to provide the water supply. That is why it is very important that the Carr Government is engaging in discussions with the Australian Capital Territory Government in relation to an integrated water supply strategy for the region.

.....

A number of issues arise from the fact that Yass is essentially sharing a water supply with a population of approximately 300,000 people in the region. The honourable member for Burrinjuck said that many rural residential subdivisions have been undertaken in the region and that they have increased demand on the Yass River's catchment. Primarily that was why I was so supportive of putting the Sutton area into the Yass Valley Shire Council's jurisdiction when the local government boundaries were adjusted recently. Development in the Sutton area has been having a very severe impact on the Yass River's catchment.

The source of the Yass River includes areas such as Wonboyn, Sutton and the areas that lie to the western side of the Lake George ridge. That area has certainly been the site of a great deal of rural residential subdivision. In my view it is essential for subdivisions to be undertaken in a responsible manner. Documents I have seen suggest that some of the ground water supplies in that area are perhaps being extracted at approximately 180 per cent of sustainable capacity. Obviously, in the long term that cannot be sustained. The inclusion of Sutton into the Yass Valley Council's jurisdiction was in part aimed directly at ensuring that the Yass Valley Council had some say over future development in the area, and particularly over intense development that has been proposed.

.....

The Australian Capital Territory cannot pretend that it is an island. The Murrumbidgee River flows in one side and out the other. If it were not for 300,000 Australian Capital Territory residents taking water from the Murrumbidgee catchment, Yass would never have a problem. It is important that the Australian Capital Territory Government recognises that. We are working with the Australian Capital Territory Government to resolve these issues.

Anthony Roberts of the Lane Cove electorate weighed in on some of the water conservation methods Yass Valley Council has implemented;

In October 2003 Yass council implemented a number of water-related strategies that sought to increase the capacity of the water supply, adopted water conservation matters including a rainwater tank subsidy for existing houses connected to the water supply system, implemented a regime of water restrictions to ensure the maintenance of supply, and investigated the potential to supplement the Yass Dam supply with a ground water supply.

Yass Valley Council has also adopted water conservation measures designed to save as much water as possible. Those measures include all new houses to be fitted with rainwater tanks, all new houses to have triple-A rated water-saving showerheads and dual flush toilets, a $200 subsidy to be provided for fitting new water tanks to existing houses that are connected to the town water supply, and shower flow regulators to be provided free of charge to increase the water efficiency of existing showers.

A stringent water restriction policy was developed and implemented. Yass was eventually placed on stage four water restrictions which, if implemented in Sydney, would probably have seen rioting in the streets.

There is no easy answer, while Hodgkinson asked the question of the Carr Government, appearing to request a centralised government engineered solution to the water shortage, it remains reliant upon rain. In Australia rain is not seasonal. Over the Great Dividing Range, it is often as rare as hens' teeth. Yet, a decentralised solution is also reliant upon rainfall.

The rural regions also have pressure put on their fresh water supplies by agriculture, damming and salinification of the land. In 2000-2001, agriculture accounted for 67% of total water use in Australia. The next largest users were households with 8.8%;

• 67.0% : Agriculture
• 8.8% : Households
• 7.2% : Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Industries
• 6.8% : Electricity and Gas industries
• 3.5% : Manufacturing
• 1.6% : Mining

NSW and the ACT used the most water in Australia, 38% of the total. Of this consumption in NSW/ACT, 78% of it was used by agriculture. In NSW and the ACT the breakdown of agricultural use of water is (in gigalitres);

• 2,590 : Livestock, pasture, grains etc
• 1,921 : Cotton
• 1,921 : Rice
• 401 : Dairy
• 214 : Fruit
• 174 : Grapes
• 96 : Vegetables

The continent appears to be telling us something. Either the livestock, grain, cotton and rice industries have to go, or it wont sustain us anymore.

Goulburn's Challenge

A couple of articles ago, I announced that Goulburn's challenge was to make us think differently about water. It appears that Goulburn doesn't need to, the continent has been leaving us pretty plain messages all along. Australia is telling us; "I don't have seasonal rainfall, and either industrial agriculture has to go, or the Australian people have to go - I can't sustain you both".

Australia should be using its free trade credentials here, and importing food from our water wealthy neighbours. The Imagining Australia folks weigh in here as well;

We have a particularly 'hot, heavy and wet' economy: that is, our economy is one that requires large amounts of energy, materials and water to produce a unit of gross domestic product.

Andrew Leigh has argued for the market setting the price of water in the past. In the op-ed he does not mention the excessive use of water by the agricultural industry, even though the Imagining Australia book notes that there is enough water for Australians, as long as the agricultural industry does not use it all.

It may be politically impossible to remove the beef, lamb, wool, rice and cotton industries in NSW - a market solution might be the only way to lower agriculture's use of Australia's fresh water.

cam