Council responds to golf club water petition
Date published: 21 June 2016
The Townsville City Council will take steps to encourage reduced town water usage at the Townsville Golf Club in response to a public petition.
Council must legally provide town water to the golf club, but will look at introducing a cap on the generous water concessions policy as an incentive to minimise consumption.
Water and Waste Committee chairman Cr Paul Jacob said the cap would be considered in the upcoming budget to place a maximum limit on the concessions, which offer discounts of up to 95% on water to non-for-profit community and sporting groups.
“The city is in drought and the golf club issue has highlighted the need to change the policy to be more in step with the drought conditions and the community’s views on water use,” Cr Jacob said.
The move follows the tabling of a petition at today’s Water and Waste Committee meeting objecting to a 12 month agreement that allows the golf club to irrigate with town water.
As part of the agreement, the club proposes to switch to potable water when it stops using recycled water from an ageing on-site water treatment plant to be decommissioned later this year as part of its redevelopment.
“While the agreement signed off by the previous council is legally valid and can’t be overturned, a cap on concessions will put cost pressures on the golf club to minimise their water use and continue to work with council on a solution that doesn’t rely so heavily on town water,” Cr Jacob said.
“The current arrangement entitles the club to use up to 350 Mega litres of water, and receive up to $700,000 in concessions which is much more than any other sporting group in the city.
“That can’t be justified when the rest of the community is grappling with tough water restrictions. We want to place a cap on those concessions, so that once the limit has been reached the commercial rate for water will apply.
“The existing agreement will be subject to the city’s open space watering restrictions, and the cap will act as an added incentive for the club to continue to use recycled water for as long as possible and minimise town water use.
“I want to point out that the club has been working with the council to explore longer term solutions and have delayed the decommissioning of the treatment plant until November, much closer to the wet season.”
