The Toowoomba and Southern Downs regional councils have voted in favour of the $300 million-plus Toowoomba to Warwick Pipeline (T2W) project going ahead.

With the councils’ endorsement, Water Minister Glenn Butcher said pre-construction works would begin before Christmas.

“We’re thrilled that Toowoomba and Southern Downs have supported this project and – subject to some final negotiations – we are now in a position to meet our commitment to get this project underway and on track for scheduled completion by the end of 2026,” he said.

“Construction of this pipeline is critical to providing improved water security for the residents of Southern Downs Regional Council as well as delivering approximately 420 jobs to the Toowoomba and Southern Downs communities during construction.”

The pipeline will carry raw water from Wivenhoe Dam and connect with Toowoomba Regional Council’s existing water infrastructure to deliver water to Warwick and will be an opportunity to deliver treated water to the satellite communities of Cambooya, Greenmount, Nobby and Clifton.

Importantly the pipeline provides drought contingency for all the residents of Southern Downs Regional Council.

Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio said that while the council understood the importance of this project for the future of the Southern Downs, its focus had to be for its own residents and their long-term water security needs.

“This is why we requested and met with State Government representatives on a number of occasions to express the key objectives we need to be satisfied with, before giving our support to the project,” he said.

“Some of these objectives included the relocation and increased capacity of the Wivenhoe Pump Station; enlarging the pipe to connect with our southern towns (Cambooya, Greenmount, Nobby and Clifton) and ensuring our ratepayers won’t be subsidising the supply of water to the Southern Downs Regional Council.

“While this idea was originally proposed as a way to help the Southern Downs in times of drought, we have worked hard to make sure any pipeline project benefits their region, as well as the Toowoomba region.”

While there were positive opportunities for Toowoomba region from this proposed pipeline, such as connecting southern towns to the Toowoomba Bulk Water Supply, there would likely be supplementary investment required from the council to enhance the water network.

“We want to help out our Southern Downs neighbours and the proposed operating model for the pipeline will ensure there is no adverse impact on our water security,” he said.

“This is why we will ensure we have the power to supply water to Southern Downs Regional Council only when we have sufficient capacity within our network. We also require water restrictions to be consistent between the two council areas.

“There has been a considerable amount of work which has taken place to get us to this point and cooperation between the State Government, Southern Downs Regional Council and Toowoomba Regional Council.”

Southern Downs Regional Council Mayor Vic Pennisi said the collaboration between two levels of government would deliver significant benefits to Southern Downs communities.

“We welcome this drought-resilience measure. When the town of Warwick almost ran out of water, in 2020, it was a stark reminder that the weather is unpredictable and we need to protect ourselves against potential disaster as much as possible,” he said.

“We are most grateful for the continued support from the Queensland Government and our neighbours Toowoomba Regional Council and look forward to ongoing collaboration to see this drought-resilience project come to fruition.”

Seqwater has delivered detailed designs for the pipeline and is continuing to work with stakeholders in preparing to move into the pre-construction phase of the pipeline, including discussion with landholders.

Mr Butcher said it was hoped that the pre-construction phase could commence within the next few months, with a tentative construction and commissioning completion date of end-2026.

“Public consultation in February 2022 has shown support for the pipeline, but we needed to work through those final affordability and water security concerns with councils,” he said.