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Research at heart of new University of Southern Queensland and Granite Belt partnership
Research opportunities for both scientists and students at the University of Southern Queensland have been given a boost with a Memorandum of Understanding between the University and Granite Belt Water Limited (GBW).
Engineering, agriculture, horticulture, hydrology and environment are just some of the research project focus areas that stand to benefit from the new partnership.
GBW is a community-owned entity with oversight of the Granite Belt Irrigation Project that will deliver a 12,074 megalitre dam at Emu Swamp as well as 126km of pipeline throughout the Granite Belt.
New water for the Barossa in the pipeline winetitles.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from winetitles.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Government infrastructure decision making has not always demonstrated the rigour of water service providers’ processes,” the Productivity Commission said.
“Since 2017, governments have committed to two major water projects (Rookwood weir and Haughton pipeline stage 2) with business cases demonstrating benefit–cost ratios of less than 1 – that is, the projects are likely to impose net costs on the community.”
The report also includes a case study on the $484m Dungowan dam proposed for Tamworth in NSW, which has been championed by the Nationals’ John Barilaro. It has also received millions of dollars in support from the federal government, from a fund run by Nationals leader Michael McCormick.
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Subscriber only Progress is being made on the game-changing Urannah Dam project after comments on the draft terms of reference for an environmental-impact statement closed late last month. The State Government s co-ordinator-general will now finalise this once all public and agency comments have been considered. A spokesman for the office of the co-ordinator-general said the proponent, Bowen River Utilities, would then have 18 months to prepare an environmental impact statement which satisfactorily addressed the terms of reference. Many of the comments received from the public were general project comments rather than suggestions about how the terms of reference might be amended to improve the outcomes of the EIS process, he said.
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The new crest on Paradise Dam is expected to be finished by next month and the anchor trials are progressing.
While the results aren’t in just yet, here’s what we do know.
CPB Contractors, the lead contractor for the Essential Works, has procured a specialist post-tensioned anchoring and drilling subcontractor to undertake the anchor trial works, according to the Sunwater’s January update on the trials.
The anchoring trial will test the capacity of the existing dam foundation/ground conditions to hold post-tensioned anchors; and potential settlement that could occur within weak foundation materials.