The WMPP will replace 17,500 km of open, earthen channels with a 8,800 km piped water distribution system to be built and integrated into the overall business of GWMWater at an estimated cost of $520 million. It will provide reticulated water to 7,000 rural properties and 36 towns over an area of about two million hectares.

The conversion to a piped supply system will save 103,000 megalitres of water currently lost through seepage and evaporation, and deliver multiple benefits for the region.

Water savings

From a total release of 120,000 megalitres each year from bulk water supply reservoirs, GWMWater rural and urban customers ultimately use only 17,000 megalitres. The conversion from a channel to piped supply system will save the 103,000 megalitres of water that is lost from the existing system, and deliver a range of economic, social and environmental benefits to the region.

Among these are more secure, reliable and better quality water supplies to the farms, towns and businesses of the region, the return of up to 83,000 megalitres of water savings to government for environmental purposes and the provision of a further 1,000 megalitres of water for environmentally significant wetlands located within the area serviced by the new system.

The project will also result in the availability of up to 10,000 megalitres of additional water from the new system for regional economic development, which will provide new opportunities for sustainable on-farm diversification and new industry serviced by a water system that can support future growth and the availability of up to 3,000 megalitres of water for eleven recreational lakes within the region, with substantial flow-on benefits for tourism.

Developing the proposal for a piped water supply

As a result of an initial feasibility study completed in 2001, both the Federal and Victorian State Governments provided funding to further develop the WMPP proposal, through key activities.

These included extensive consultation to ensure the engagement of the community and participating in the process to ensure the pipeline system design will meet the needs and expectations of regional users.

Focus groups identified the practical implications for landholders and other water users of implementing a piped supply system, and there was an investigation to identify and quantify the substantial natural resource benefits achieved from a pipelining proposal.

Environmental assessment and statutory planning approval was undertaken to identify and minimise the potential disturbance effects resulting from the construction of the pipeline.

Funding was also provided for engineering design of the pipeline system at a conceptual level, and estimates of the costs of constructing and operating a piped supply system. A full and detailed design for 25 per cent of the proposed system was also undertaken. There was also a detailed Business Case to confirm the relative benefits and costs, including the economic, environmental and social benefits generated by the project.

The WMPP partnership

The WMPP proposal presented in the Business Case is an outcome that has been fundamentally driven by the community, and represents a strong partnership across stakeholders at all levels.

Through the regional community structure, partnerships have developed with the following community and stakeholder groups:

* Local farmers and other private commercial enterprises; * Urban and rural community groups in the WMPP area; * Regional interest groups - environment, indigenous, emergency services, primary production, business and economic development; * A total of 13 local municipal councils that cover some 20 per cent of Victoria; * The four Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) as lead agencies for managing community interests in and priorities for investment in natural resources management; * State agencies including Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Parks Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD) and the Environment Protection Authority; and, * Commonwealth agencies including the National Heritage Trust (NHT), Environment Australia (EA), Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (AFFA) and Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS).

Community consultation

As part of the development of the WMPP Business Case, a major consultation program was undertaken. The consultation promoted widespread community involvement and interest in the WMPP. The key messages from the consultation program, as presented in the Business Case, were that there was broad consensus that the channel system could no longer serve the need of the region, meaning that a piped supply was a must for future economic and social development, and that design of the pipeline must cater for change and growth, and should not be limited to replacing the status quo.

Other key messages included the fact that the pipeline needs to meet higher standards for security of supply than currently provided by the channel supply system; and that improved water quality was a critical and vital outcome that would yield major benefits for many aspects of regional life, both domestic and commercial.

Funding arrangements

The WMPP is estimated to cost $520 million, which comprises a system capital cost and a separate investment in on-farm works to be provided by rural customers. On-farm works will consist of water tanks, pipelines and troughs configured in local system arrangements that are connected to the major pipeline system and distribute water to various locations around each farm enterprise.

The Australian and Victorian State Governments jointly launched the WMPP on 24 June 2005 after reaching agreement on the funding arrangements as part of the National Water Initiative. Governments have each committed to contributing amounts of $167 million towards the project, premised on the significant environmental benefits achieved through water savings and the economic benefits provided through an improved water supply.

The regional community’s share of the pipeline system cost will be paid for through the annual water tariffs and from the sale of water savings allocated for future regional growth.

The pipeline system

The WMPP will implement a piped and pumped water supply system that will provide a continuous supply to individual farms and townships across the Wimmera Mallee region. The system incorporates trunk and distribution pipeline works, pumping stations, water balancing storages, headworks, control systems and other ancillary works that are connected to create five separate supply zones drawing water from two sources of supply in the Grampians mountains and a sixth supply zone supplied from the Murray River. The scope of the project also includes the decommissioning of redundant channel assets.

Figure 1 presents a general layout plan of the trunk main components of each supply zone. A major trunk pipeline will transfer water under gravity from Lake Bellfield to Taylors Lake. The remainder of the pipeline system is a pumped system and so will be highly reliant on the regional power supply network. The trunk pipeline of each supply zone follows a route that extends between the towns situated within that zone, with a trunk pumping station and water balancing storage located along the trunk main alignment at each town.

Trunk pumping stations transfer bulk water between the water storages and also service the local distribution pipe networks connected to the pumped trunk main, with flows delivered directly from the trunk mains to the distribution mains under trunk main pressure. In areas where the trunk main supply is unable to adequately pressurise areas within the distribution network, local distribution system pumping stations will be installed to maintain the required delivery pressure at customer connection points. The key criteria that have been the basis for the design of the pipeline system are presented in Table 1.

System Water Allowances and Infrastructure

The pipeline system has been designed to deliver just under 23,000 megalitres of water ‘on demand’ each year from the system to farms, rural industries and towns. Provision has been made within this ‘on demand’ capacity for 10 per cent growth in the current level of urban consumption and up to 5,000 megalitres for growth in rural consumption across the entire system.

The system can also provide additional water that is to be pumped during off-peak periods, with up to 3,979 megalitres available to supply nominated recreational lakes and wetlands with high conservation value, plus a further growth allowance of up to 5,000 megalitres. Access to this extra growth allowance requires additional water storage located specifically where the demand for this water occurs.

The major works component for the project is the construction of around 8,800 kilometres of pipeline works. The new system will substantially improve the security of supply provided to customers, which will increase from the current levels of 78 per cent for rural services and 88 per cent for urban services to 96 per cent for both services.

Project management and implementation

The Victorian and Federal Governments have established a project governance structure for the project that reflects the important operational role of GWMWater in the implementation of the project, but which also recognises the significant financial investment to be made.

Detailed engineering design of the major trunk pipeline from Lake Bellfield to Taylors Lake, together with a trunk pipeline extending from Taylors Lake to Yaapeet and the distribution pipeline systems connected to this supply zone trunk main is completed.

Procurement of these works is through competitive tendering for supply of pipe and pump components and the construction of system works. Construction of this initial phase of the project works will take about one year. While the entire program of works was originally expected to take 10 years to build, an aggressive Procurement Strategy aimed at a five year construction period is currently being evaluated.

The logistics of WMPP implementation are significant, and include the scale of the project, scope of contracts, financial and probity controls in a regional location and the need for water delivery services to continue during infrastructure development over several years, during drought conditions and severe restrictions.

Logistics will also include the attraction of qualified professionals, short and long term; regional impacts of the changing water policy environment, for example entitlement and trading regimes; sustainability objectives; water quality targets; and required on farm infrastructure investment by primary producers.

It is expected that the first stage of the project will go to public tender in April 2006, with laying of pipes to commence in the second half of 2006. A highly competitive industry response is expected.