Water woes

By ALENA HIGGINS

A KARARA ratepayer has voiced fury at being slugged extra water charges when the town water she’s supplied is “filthy and stinks”.
Tracey Long said she was floored to receive a $353.80 bill from Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) without warning late last month requiring her to pay a vacant water access charge as part of her 2014-’15 rates.
It is the first time the pensioner has been slapped the additional fee after residing at the property, 53km west of Warwick, for six years.
She said it was grossly unfair of council to charge Karara residents vacant access fees when the quality and pressure of their unpotable water supply was “pathetic”.
“The Karara so-called town water comes from Canal Creek and there is a free-range piggery up the creek from us and when it rains all the wash goes into the creek where our weir is,” she said.
“We are paying two cents more a litre than Toowoomba people for their water and at least they can drink theirs.”
SDRC director of engineering services Peter See said vacant water access charges had come to prominence over the past 12 months after a Pratten resident decided to disconnect from the village’s water supply.
He said the financial stability of the scheme was being undermined in the absence of access charges.
“We put up a proposal as part of the (2014-’15) budget that in the villages … we have this access charge because even through there are less than 15 water connections in Karara it still means my staff members have to go out there, they have to maintain and incur costs whether people are using it or not,” Mr See said.
Bill Long, who is cared for by his daughter after having a stoke last December, said the added cost was a heavy burden on Ms Long, who budgeted through the year to pay her rates.
“Now she pays nearly $2000 in rates and there is no shop, no post office, nothing out here,” Mr Long said of the town’s lack of services.
Mr See empathised with Ms Long’s position but said there was only one chance per year to increase charges and that was during the budget process, which councillors adopted in late June.
He said council recognised the impost and were allowing people to pay their rates in two instalments this year, however it was understood this would mean forgoing the early payment discount.
In response to the discolouration of the water, Mr See said the Karara water was not intended for drinking or showering and was only there to supplement the tank water they had.
“We dose it to ensure there is no active bacteria but we don’t do any filtering or screening of the water to remove the suspended solids – the dirt if you like,” he said.
The Longs contend SDRC agreed in 2012 to clean the reservoir every three months.
Mr See confirmed the tank was cleaned out in May this year but said he would have to find out whether it had been maintained in between.