Moyne Shire councillors have gone within a whisker of demanding the water authority extend Warrnambool's water supply to Port Fairy.
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Councillors were split three votes all at the November council meeting on a motion to specifically ask Wannon Water to build a pipeline from Warrnambool to solve the long-term issue of Port Fairy's unpalatable drinking water.
With newly minted mayor Karen Foster recusing herself from the vote because of a conflict of interest, deputy mayor Daniel Meade broke the deadlock to knock back the motion.
Moyne Shire Council doesn't have any decision-making power over water supply in the shire. The Port Fairy water issue came before council after the Port Fairy Pipeline Support Group - which has a long campaigned for a pipeline to the town - requested a meeting with the council executive to push for it to join the advocacy effort.
Wannon Water also met with council officers to explain its perspective on the contentious issue. The water authority has been developing a solution to the drinking water supply in Port Fairy, Portland and Heywood, which all use water pumped from underground. The water has high mineral salt levels that are safe to drink, but don't appeal to most people's palates.
While the only solution in Portland and Heywood is to build water treatment plants to remove the minerals from the groundwater, Port Fairy has the option of piping water from the Otway supply that Warrnambool uses.
At the council meeting the pipeline group's John Konings said a pipeline was the "only option that (could) deliver holistic benefits to the town".
"The (water) taste and quality is guaranteed with the pipeline. The desal (treatment plant) is simple, but it's unproven," Mr Konings said. He said the pipeline group had hired an engineering contractor to cost both options and found the pipeline and treatment plant would cost around the same amount to build.
Wannon Water managing director Andrew Jeffers disputed Mr Konings' cost claim, saying preliminary investigations by the water authority put the cost of a pipeline at "three times the cost of a localised treatment plant".
He said Wannon Water had "no objection to pipelines" and hadn't made a firm decision either way. "The decision on a preferred solution will be made by Wannon Water... on the best overall outcome for the community, including environmental impacts and social outcomes."
But Mr Jeffers said the cost differential, which emerged when Wannon Water developed its business case for the project, was "a fact" that would be taken into account.
While the recommendation from council officers advised the council to support the water improvement project without pushing one particular solution, Cr Jordan Lockett moved an alternate motion advocating specifically for the pipeline.
Cr Jim Doukas spoke against the alternate motion, saying it wasn't the council's place to tell the water authority which technical solution was appropriate.
"If we're going down the pipeline avenue and Wannon Water then does more study and finds out new information, where does that leave us as a council and where does it leave Wannon Water?" he said.
"We are being a bit presumptuous here."
The three Port Fairy-based councillors still voted in favour of pushing the pipeline option, with Cr Meade defeating the motion.
In its place, Cr Doukas proposed a motion where the council remained agnostic about which solution was best, but pushed for Port Fairy to have its water fixed before Portland or Heywood.
Cr Damian Gleeson said he was unhappy with the Port Fairy solution potentially getting held up because it was getting bundled up with a project involving towns outside Moyne Shire.
"We've accepted what we've had for a long time and its not good enough," he said.
"My focus is Port Fairy, not Portland or Heywood, my priority is my community. We want better water for Port Fairy now."
The motion pushing for a swift solution passed four votes to two.
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