IGPA Canberra Conversation on Planning

A video of this talk held on 10 September in the Albert Hall is now available at:

Shared water

Signs on the backtrack and near the water reservoirs indicate that a new pipeline is being installed to service the new suburb of Whitlam.  This is planned as the first development in Molonglo Stage 3 and is one of the reasons for the current interminable road works on William Hovell Drive.  Whitlam will cover the area south of William Hovell Drive down to the Molonglo, and between Coppins Crossing Road and Kama Nature Reserve on the west.

FoHV has been advised that:  Most of the water system built in the 1970s and 80s was designed to meet the enormous peak irrigation demand experienced at that time (up to 520ML in a day), before the current water charging regime, when there was no cost or other restriction to using heaps of water.  In recent years the maximum day demand has struggled to make 300ML, even with the growth in population over that time.  The net result of all this is that the pipelines from Stromlo to reservoirs like Weetangera, and the tanks themselves, are now way oversized for the projected future demand on them.  Hence the spare capacity to serve Molonglo 3.

It is also important to note that, in the very unlikely event Icon Water decide sometime in the future that more storage is required at the Weetangera reservoir site to serve Molonglo 3, a site has been set aside for an extra tank on that site.

RZ2 Public meeting

Macquarie residents in the RZ2 suburban area designated for redevelopment and densification are holding a public meeting to discuss issues of relevance to all residents of those areas across Canberra.

When:  Monday 18 December from 5.30 pm to 7 pm-ish

Where:  Macquarie Primary School Hall

All are welcome to attend.

How fast are our Canberra suburbs growing?

An ABC News item by James Fettes today includes the following interesting population statistics for the four local suburbs –  from the ACT Government’s latest population projections:

Suburb	2016	2020	Change

Hawker

2,849

2,808

-1.44%

Page

2,912

2,895

-0.58%

Scullin

2,845

2,825

-0.70%

Weetangera

2,600

2,505

-3.65%

Total ACT

396,551

421,839

6.38%