Topping up Lake Colac could cost $150 million

A future water top-up of Lake Colac could cost up to $150 million depending on the volume of water needed, Polwarth MP Richard Riordan says.

Unlock full access to Colac Herald - Subscribe today!

Subscribe Now

6 Responses to “Topping up Lake Colac could cost $150 million”

  1. Juggy obviously the soil erosion goes into the lake. It is part of the natural formation that made the lake as large as it is. In terms of sediments, please sit down and do the math. Rough area is 30,000,000 m2. So for every 30,000 m3 eroded, that adds 1 mm. Again, rough maths, but given 6 km of eastern shore, that’s 6000 lots of 5 cubic meters, which is saying for every 5 cubic meters of soil eroded per meter of shoreline it adds 1 mm depth.

    I do agree a path would be fantastic. I actually think the area should be earmarked as residential amd build park and pathways all along. That would tackle erosion, sure, but erosion in the scheme of things is trivial.

    Water quality, nutrients, and suspended solids in sewage and stormwater are far bigger issues. The biota that grows off the nutrients dies decays and builds up that slimy sludge. If you want to spend millions put in polishing ponds, and better stormwater sedimentation ponds.

  2. Bill… Where do you think the land from erosion goes then? It goes into the lake and spreads out… leading to a larger and shallower area over time.

    A wall (of a kind) incorporating a pathway around the lake connecting Colac, Beeac and Cororooke has the potential to generate money for the Shire regardless of water level or weather all year round. Just imagine the possibilities that could arise from such an idea.

  3. Juggy, disagree about the erosion within the lake. Apart from the cost not justifiable with the current land values, in the scheme of things it has little impact on overall lake depth. Millions spent there would make negligible changes to the volume of water or quality of water in the lake.

  4. Wow! Drinking water is a bit over $2 a KL, and recycled water a bit less. One million kL in GL, makes that about $2M a GL. So Richard is saying there is a business case to pump water at more than twice the price of drinking water into the lake, a giant evaporation pan, then sell off that water to farmers. And somehow that will increase lake levels ?
    And what of the flooding along Barongarook creek as he dumps GL into it in the middle of winter ?

    And once again, will Richard make all the reports he has public or not ? One has to wonder at the timing of this information release so soon post election avoiding any election campaign discussion.

  5. Haha… I first mentioned the idea of ‘water from the Gellibrand River’ as a joke and he’s ran with it. But it’s not just Barwon Water that need consulting on it… It’s also Wannon Water, CCMA and probably others too!

    But the first thing that needs doing is ‘STOPPING THE EROSION’ as others have been saying. Otherwise that’s only going to continue and affect both sides of the coin.
    Once that’s done, people could look at putting water into the lake, but the best option would have to be the recycled water from Geelong. It’s no good taking clean drinking water from the system just to have it over flow once the lake is full.

    Plus! When/if the weather pattern shifts back to what it’s been in the past… Wouldn’t all this construction of pipes just be a waste???

  6. Wow! Drinking water is a bit over $2 a KL, and recycled water a bit less. One million kL in GL, makes that about $2M a GL. So Richard is saying there is a business case to pump water at more than twice the price of drinking water into the lake, a giant evaporation pan, then sell off that water to farmers. And somehow that will increase lake levels ?
    And what of the flooding along Barongarook creek as he dumps GL into it in the middle of winter ?

    And once again, will Richard make all the reports he has public or not ? One has to wonder at the timing of this information release so soon post election.

Comments are closed.

Follow us on Instagram

© Copyright Colac Herald 2024 WordPress website development by DMC Web.