Long-term strategy: The city now used about five million litres a day, compared with 13.5 million litres a day in a "normal period". Currently, council grounds, such as soccer fields, are watered with treated sewage water; industries use backwash water, which was previously charged into the Wollondilly River, and swimming pools are filled from house tanks – or not at all. Federal Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull, said while the pipeline would help secure water supply for Goulburn in the short term, it was critically important the project was part of a long-term supply strategy for the region.
Delay in funding: "That’s why federal funding is also contingent on the Goulburn Mulwaree Council and the NSW Government undertaking to complete water supply planning to solve Goulburn’s long-term water supply problem," Turnbull said. NSW Water Utilities Minister, Nathan Rees, while welcoming the federal funding, went on the attack for the federal delay in funding the project.
The Land, 21/6/2007, p. 1