Australian town runs out of water after Chinese company is given green light to take supply from drought-hit area
A DROUGHT-HIT Australian town has run of water weeks after a Chinese water extraction operation was given the go-ahead.
The town of Stanthorpe in Queensland is dependent on 42 truckloads of water a day, which is transported in from a dam around 60km (37 miles) away.
The drought-hit town - with a population of 5,000 residents – is rationing water 80 litres per person a day after the town's Storm King Dam dried up.
It comes after Chinese company Joyful View was granted permission to run a 96m litre a year commercial water mining operation in December.
The water mining operation will take place around 40km away at Cherrabah on the border with New South Wales – despite the local area being ravaged by drought.
The company plans to transport the water to a Gold Coast bottling plant, according to council documents.
Local newspaper Southern Free Times reported that councillors who voted in favour of the development application at a 18 December meeting claimed they had no power to regulate groundwater extraction - as it is a state Government responsibility.
One resident told The Guardian: “I don't understand how it is allowed to happen.
“If that water drains away from the shallow aquifers, it affects our long-term viability.”
According to Riverna Water, the daily water allowance is four times less than the average individual water consumption of 340 litres per day.
The Connolly Dam’s capacity has dived to 11 percent, as Australia records it worst ever drought during the bushfire season.
Stanthorpe Mayor Tracy Dobie said the operation to transport water is the biggest ever of its kind by an Australian local government.
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She said: “We've now commenced full trucking of water. There's 14 trucks doing three trips a day.
“Council promised the community we would not run out of water.
"The initial stages of water carting went extremely well and without incident. We will now move to full-time water carting to provide water to the Stanthorpe Region.”
