New Chair of Water and Waste Committee appointed
Date published: 23 October 2018
Townsville City Council has appointed a new Chair of its Water and Waste Committee.
Councillor Russ Cook was appointed the new Committee Chair at today’s Full Council meeting.
Cr Cook has stepped into the role after Deputy Mayor Les Walker was in the position on an interim basis.
Mayor Jenny Hill said Cr Cook would play a key role in ensuring Council’s 3-point water security solution was delivered.
“Cr Cook is no stranger to hard work and he’s stepping into a crucial role for Council to ensure we deliver water security for our community,” Cr Hill said.
“Council is committed to building the new water pipeline by December 2019 – and we’ve just had another key milestone with the first shipment of pipes delivered to Townsville.”
Cr Hill re-iterated her call for Federal funding for Stage 2 of the pipeline project.
“Building Stage 2 at the same time as the first is the most efficient and cost-effective way to ensure our community gets multi-generational water security,” Cr Hill said.
“I’m calling on the Federal Government to come to the table and provide support to this project because the Queensland Government has already contributed $225 million to water security in our city.”
Cr Cook said he was honoured to accept the new role at a time when Council is rolling out its biggest ever infrastructure project to ensure Townsville’s water supply.
“There’s plenty of work to do over the next fourteen months until the pipeline is built,” Cr Cook said.
“It’s a huge infrastructure project and Council’s number one priority project.
“I’ll be putting all my focus in making sure the pipeline project remains on track and it is completed by the end of next year.
“There’s also a huge amount of work being done on the other aspects of Council’s 3-point water security solution – the recycled water reuse scheme and the Transition Support Package.
“It’s going to be a very busy period to ensure all aspects of Council’s 3-point water security solution come together to ensure our community has long-term water security.”
