Moree Plains Shire Council has agreed to a number of changes to the Moree Water Park licence agreement, to enable Moree Water Ski Club to host the 2019 National Waterskiing Championships and the 2019 Australian Junior Masters.
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Due to the slow filling of the lakes and the challenges involved in keeping them full due to the exceptionally dry season, Moree Water Ski Club had concerns that they would not be able to get the big circuit lake operational in time to host the Junior Masters in January, or the National Championships in April.
To be operational, all lakes must be 1.5 metres deep, however when the lakes are losing 4 millilitres per day on peak evaporation days, with an inflow of only 1ml a day, Moree Water Ski Club president James Von Drehnen said it’s very difficult to maintain the required depth.
The club had planned to consolidate the water into two lakes rather than three, to significantly reduce the evaporation area, however the licence agreement required a minimum of 300mm be maintained in each lake at all times.
The idea was to transfer all the water from the east/west tournament lake (lake three) into the circuit lake, to enable use of the north/south tournament lake and circuit lake for the National Championships.
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“It is not negotiable to leave 300mm in the bottom of the lake, it just doesn’t work,” Mr Von Drehnen said at last Thursday’s council meeting.
“That water will just evaporate.”
Council has agreed to reduce the minimum depth requirements from 1.5m to 1.2m – which is in accordance with the Australian Waterski and Wakeboard Foundation and Tournament Waterki Australia guidelines – to make it easier to fill the circuit lake in time for the National Championships.
Councillors also agreed to remove the 300mm minimum requirement, instead resolving that the Moree Water Ski Club and council carry out a combined monitoring of lake three while there is an absence of water to identify any issues that may arise.
Other conditions to the licence changes are that the variation be initially for one season only, with any further requests be made in writing to council within a reasonable timeframe; that all costs of pumping water associated with the level changes and of any damage to the lakes are met by the club; that the club provide a date for when the spent artesian water can be placed back into lake three; and that prior to a reduction of the operational level of the lakes, the club must provide a detailed risk assessment regarding the intended recreation and sporting usage of the lakes.
The club also must take full responsibility for any issues that arise from a dry lake bed.
Mr Von Drehnen said this was the right outcome, however unfortunately these changes come too late to make a difference ahead of the Junior Masters.
“While the resolution gives us opportunity going forward, it’s not going to help in the immediate future,” he said.
“To get the advantage of consolidating the circuit lake and reducing the water in the east/west lake, it would have needed to be done a month or two ago.
“However it helps us for future planning going forward.”
Since the club no longer has enough time to consolidate the circuit lake, they will now be utilising both tournament lakes for the Junior Masters.
“We’re now focussing our energy on improving the infrastructue on the east/west lake,” Mr Von Drehnen said.
“For the Junior Masters we’ll concentrate on the east/west and north/south lakes because we know we can guarantee water for that.
“It still equals or betters anything on the eastern seaboard.”
Depending on how the season goes from now on, the club may look at transferring water from the east/west lake to the circuit lake in March so that it can be used for Nationals.
“If there’s enough water and the season goes with us, we will transfer water from the east/west lake to get the circuit lake open; we're hoping to have the north/south and circuit lakes ready for Nationals,” Mr Von Drehnen said.
“We can still run Nationals with the two tournament lakes but it won’t be what we had in mind.
“We’ve got to deal with the cards we’ve been dealt.”
The outcome also means Mehi Beach will no longer be able to be opened in January or February as the club had hoped.
Despite the set-back, Mr Von Drehnen remains positive.
“We’re still kicking goals,” he said.
“The important thing is we’ve been able to attract this grant funding [a total of $333,500 – the latest being $104,000 under round two of the Stronger Country Communities Fund] which is very competitive. The project has to stack up against other applications and is being critiqued against other projects, so competitively, we’re looking okay as to what we’re doing and hoping to achieve.
“The money is being spent locally, which is important, particularly in a time so tough.”
Mr Von Drehnen said the development of the water park would also not have been possible without all the labour being done through the Work for the Dole and Corrective Services programs.
