Geelong tapped into plan for Tassie water

Andrew Mathieson
Geelong could tap into fresh water from Tasmania under a proposal to build a pipeline across Bass Strait.
Bass Pipeline Consortium said it had pencilled in Geelong for a share of 350 gigalitres of water proposed to flow from north-west Tasmania to Victoria each year.
Civil engineer Geoff Croker, a driving force behind the pipeline, said the proposal targeted a spare 1300 gigalitres from Forth River, near Burnie.
Mr Croker said the Geelong region could easily access the pipeline.
“One of the branch lines would go to Geelong, of course,” he said.
“It’s on the plan to have a valve for a pipe to go directly to Geelong.
“That would solve your (water) problem.”
Mr Croker said the consortium would sell some of the 350 gigalitres to Barwon Water.
However, the consortium had yet to approach the water authority about the pipeline proposal.
“There seems to be no point in talking to Barwon Water or anybody else until the Tasmanian (Government) has decided it’s going to come on board,” Mr Croker said.
He believed the Tasmanian water would be cheaper for Geelong households than supplies from other options Victoria was working on to meet future demand, such as a $3.1 million desalination plant at Wonthaggi.
Mr Croker said construction of the pipeline would cost the consortium $2 billion.
He said the pipeline was “very practical”.
Pipes 2.5 metres in diameter would stretch 350 kilometres beneath Bass Strait under the proposal.
Mr Croker said a pipeline from Tasmania was not a new idea.
Melbourne Water engineers had drawn up pipeline designs for a similar proposal in 1961, he said.
Mr Crocker expected little opposition from Tasmanians to sending part of their excess water across Bass Strait.
“I presented this plan down at Burnie, there were 600 people there, and I didn’t get lynched and it’s their water,” he said.
Barwon Water had not responded to the Independent’s call on Wednesday for comment about the pipeline proposal before the paper went to press yesterday afternoon.