Using community grants to improve environmental outcomes

The $2.5 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Project (WCRWP) is almost complete. Purified recycled water is flowing from three advanced water treatment plants, travelling via a network of more than 200 km of large-diameter underground pipes, storage tanks and pumping stations to deliver a new source of pure water for South East Queensland.

Within a few short months, the project will be providing up to 232 megalitres of water a day for the region’s power stations, industry and agriculture, and should drinking water supplies fall below a combined capacity of 40%, water will be supplied to the Wivenhoe Dam.

The Western Corridor Recycled Water Project brings a range of benefits to South East Queenslanders, with the most significant being water security for future generations.

But one of the key elements behind its success is the environmental outcomes the project delivers, and its ability to mobilise grassroots community groups to undertake crucial work in their communities.

During the past two years, a number of groups have benefited through two community grants programs that helped communities along the construction alignment.

WCRWP CEO Keith Davies said environmental benefits had always been a key driver of the project, and the community grants program played a central role in leaving a lasting and beneficial legacy.

“While delivering a major water infrastructure initiative, we recognised there’s a lot more we could deliver other than treatment plants, pipelines and pumps. We really wanted to contribute to the environmental and social fabric of communities affected by our project,” Davies said.

The WCRWP devised two separate community grants programs to support affected communities. Each round of grants provided $120,000 to not-for-profit community organisations undertaking community-based initiatives. Successful recipients were able to demonstrate their project satisfied a community need or provided a significant contribution to social, cultural or environmental sustainability.

Some of the grant recipients included the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordination Committee (B4C), the Oxley Creek Catchment Association (OCCA) and the Brisbane Valley Kilcoy Landcare Group. These groups received grants for projects that protect, revegetate and enhance local creeks and wetlands.

Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C) is a Brisbane-based land care and catchment management group that manages and protects the natural environment in and around Bulimba Creek Catchment — a 122 km² area that is under increasing pressures from population growth and industrial activities.

Across the two grants programs, B4C received $19,900. The program measured positive impacts stemming from wetlands rehabilitation activities, which involved the group planting more than 60,000 trees and transplanting over 4000 mangroves.

“The Bulimba Creek Catchment has been directly affected by our project a number of times. 28 km of underground pipeline runs through the catchment and our pipelines cross Bulimba Creek five times,” Davies said.

“By providing funds to allow B4C undertake its fauna monitoring program, we are helping provide scientific, social and environmental benefits for the entire community.

“Environmentally, B4C’s program directly contributes to the continued protection of the Bulimba Creek Catchment, which is home to threatened and endangered bird species. Socially, the program engages the community and will help Brisbane residents better understand fauna within our region, which provides the chance for wide-scale attitude change. Scientifically, the program will produce important fauna data for urban wetlands in Brisbane, which will be contributed to ecological journals and databases.

“I’m told that since 1997, B4C has planted 260,000 native plants, protected 400 hectares of land and received the 2005 National River Prize at the International River Symposium. Particularly for a group based completely on volunteers, it’s a remarkable effort and we’re pleased to have assisted in their endeavours.”

A second group to have benefited from the program was the Oxley Creek Catchment Association (OCCA), which received $20,000 to undertake a range of protection and rehabilitation activities in the Oxley Creek Catchment. The Oxley Creek Catchment forms a pocket of biodiversity within Brisbane’s south-west suburbs that is home to a variety of flora and fauna.

OCCA used the grant to protect two of its tributaries — the Mayfly and Pennywort Creeks. Mayflies are aquatic invertebrates found in healthy, clear waterways, while the Pennywort is a rare plant found in Brisbane waterways. The grant was used to remove weeds that had choked the waterway, revegetate degraded areas using a number of tree planting days and conduct educational programs with local schools.

The Brisbane Valley Kilcoy Landcare Group was a third grant recipient, receiving $10,000 to revegetate and rehabilitate sections of the historically listed 12.5 hectare Caboonbah homestead with regionally vulnerable native plants. The homestead is located at the headwaters of Wivenhoe Dam.

Davies said the grants program was one of the many positive elements of the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, as it assisted volunteer groups who often receive little recognition.

“Our project has been internationally recognised for our engineering excellence and construction innovations, and we’ve won more than nine highly sought after international awards, including the 2008 ‘Water Project of the Year’ at the Global Water Awards,” Davies said.

After more than two years of construction, the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project is nearing completion. The project will continue to play a key role in South East Queensland’s water supply strategy by merging with Sure Smart Water (the Gold Coast Desalination Plant) and becoming WaterSecure. WaterSecure will soon have capacity to produce up to 357 megalitres of pure water each day, providing water security for the people of South East Queensland.

“WaterSecure combines two climate-independent water sources to produce a new source of pure water that will directly assist population growth, economic growth and water supply certainty for South East Queensland for generations to come," Davies said.