Opening of Yass to Murrumbateman Water Transfer Project

The official opening of the Yass to Murrumbateman Water Transfer Project took place last Friday 14th May 2021.

In attendance at the opening were Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, Senator Perin Davey (NSW Government), Minister Melinda Pavey (Minister for Water, Property and Housing, NSW Government), Wendy Tuckerman (Member for Goulburn, NSW Government), Yass Valley Mayor Rowena Abbey, along with Yass Valley Councillors, members of the Yass Valley Business Chamber, and contractors who worked on the project.

Mayor Abbey explained that the pipeline extends 17.9 kilometres from the Morton Avenue Pumping Station in Yass to Murrumbateman. The project was funded by all levels of government: including the Yass Valley Council, the NSW Government, which contributed 3.9 million, and the Federal Government, which contributed 6.1 million to the project. There had been unfortunate delays in the project due to COVID-19.

Minister Pavey said that “My eyes are just hurting from the high viz as I drove into the Yass Valley. Michael, our Government is doing a brilliant job putting money into regional NSW, in our case, and regional Australia in yours. Murrumbateman has been on water restrictions despite all the rain, so this is about better security of water for the burgeoning community of Murrumbateman.”

Senator Davey thanked everyone involved in the Water Transfer Project. “Living on farms as I have done for many years, I know that bore water can have a very inconsistent quality. You don’t know from one day to the next what you are going to be drinking, so I’m sure that everyone in Murrumbateman is very relieved that they will be getting more reliable, better quality water. This is an important step that is going to allow Murrumbateman to grow. Forty-three thousand people across Australia have made a tree-change since COVID, and Murrumbateman is absolutely poised to reap the benefit of that shift now that they have got a reliable water supply,” she said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said “COVID-19 effected all of us. It affected communities, but regional Australia has been and is the best place in Australia and all of the world in which to live during COVID-19. Perin Davey mentioned the people from metropolitan areas moving to regional areas to live because they wanted to have a bigger backyard. They wanted to have a lifestyle, they wanted to live in a community where it’s big enough to get a cup of coffee and small enough to still care, and indeed regional Australia offers that opportunity, and will continue to do so with good infrastructure,” he said.

• Topics:

• Public Works
• Water