LETTER TO ED: Dave Imgraben clears up misconceptions, addresses water, money matters relating to Mowbray wave park project

CLEARING THINGS UP

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Dave Imgraben has set the record straight about the Mowbray wave park. Picture: Newsport

Dear Editor,

The current and future supply of potable water in the Shire has been a ongoing hot topic for years, but Jasper and the associated rain event last December has intensified the community focus on the fragility of our system in more recent times.

Newport has published several insightful letters to the editor regarding the Shire's water crisis since Jasper. I would appreciate the opportunity to give some insight to your readers on the original NorthBreak DA approval granted by DSC back in March 2022 to help clarify some misconceptions that development or progression in this Shire is a burden to a resource like water.

Mr Trevor Frizell’s letter last month highlighted the risk of “a lack of understanding of where the money actually comes from”. I hope this will help shed some light on that understanding.

The NorthBreak concept was created with maximising self sufficiency in mind, minimising its burden on community resources and utilising the abundance the vital and free resources our rainfall and sunshine provide.

Key Points:

Water self sufficiency

  • Designed with 50,000 cubic metres of water storage onsite.
  • Features rainwater harvesting - essentially the capture of stormwater runoff onsite factoring a 30% contingency loss as well as accounting for 1.9m of evaporation annually.
  • Considering organic nano films and sacrificial waterbody of the Aquapark.
  • Utilising published rainfall data of the driest years since 1900, the modelled onsite water storage ensured self sufficiency over five years with effectively zero rainfall.

If this region experiences five years without any rain there are more problems to be concerned with than the above.

Powering considerations

  • Desalination plants considered but rejected due to environmental concerns around the disposal of the residual highly concentrated brine.
  • Use of state of the art proprietary technology for water sanitation. Onsite, compact and chemical free.
  • Ample onsite power generation via 1 MegaWatt pv array (around 330x the size of an average household solar system).

Conditions of the DA approval required NorthBreak to provide substantial infrastructure and trunk work for the benefit and use of the entire community.

Community infrastructure benefits

  • An executed “Infrastructure Agreement” between DSC and NorthBreak.Construction of new water mains, approximately 2.5km.
  • Additional connections to provide town water delivery to existing services as well as projected future ones.
  • Build a new 3ML reservoir “the infrastructure is to be provided at no cost to Council and must take into account Council’s master planning on the site”.
  • New reservoir provides an additional 25% to the whole shire’s existing capacity.
  • Many more trunk services at no cost to Council or community.

 Monetary contributions to the Council

  • Fees to be paid under the “Adopted Infrastructure Charges Notice” as per the issued DA $3,874,478.96.
  • Estimated additional fees on completion of “short term accommodation precinct” Est $4,000,000.
  • Estimated ongoing Council rates and taxes on full completion Est $4,000,000 per year.

The purpose of this letter is to help shed some light on “where the money comes from” and I am not suggesting it comes from one proposal. Also, I am not advocating rampant development, as no doubt some proposals are or will be sheer rubbish.

At the end of the day the money comes from growth, progress, investment and mostly development.I am sure there are some that will disagree. I know some can do quite nicely on donations and grants, and I am not critical of that, but don’t believe that provides benefit to the whole community.

Regardless of agreement or not, it is time to put aside these blanket objections based on fear, a lack of understanding, or inaccurate information, or driven by personal greed, an ulterior motive, or some misguided belief that only a chosen one holds the keys to the environment and sustainability.

And ‘I like it the way it is’ is no excuse either, because the whole shire is not staying the way it is. Risk of an accelerated decline in services and facilities has been exacerbated by the news surrounding the Mill.

Waiting for that magical injection of free money from a far away kingdom somewhere south, to fix the Shire's water issues, is a true fairytale. It has to be community driven and there is obviously many highly intelligent, skilled and capable people in this community that have the ability to do so.

Having an “understanding” of where the money comes from is essential.

The NorthBreak proposal was ‘shelved’ last year, so everything above is of little significance in helping or expediting any solution to the current problems.

However, a NorthBreak Mk2 proposal would be heavily backed and I am confident it’s community contribution, along with the facilities provided will be even more superior to the original.

I would also like to thank all that have passionately supported the NorthBreak proposal through various social media channels. For my personal reasons only, I have little presence on social media, but I am aware and definitely buoyed and humbled by the tremendous support given.

Port Douglas is the jewel in the crown of this country’s tourism, and at some point in time every jewel needs to be reset.

Best regards to all,

David Imgraben

 

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