Keepit pipeline proposal a ‘regional emergency in the making’

A Gunnedah-based regional advocacy group is this week hosting a “water security round table” in what is describes as a firm, coordinated stand for the protection of the Namoi Catchment.

Strategic Futures Inc – which aims to support investment in food, fibre, and water – will today host a Gunnedah meeting in response to the NSW Government consultation about building a pipeline from Lake Keepit to Tamworth.

“This is a regional emergency in the making,” Strategic Futures chair CJ Baldry Adams said.

The pipeline is being considered as part of a broader business plan to provide water security for Tamworth. But Ms Baldry Adams said the process was flawed.

“Let us be clear: Tamworth deserves water security. No one disputes that. But the method by which this security is being pursued is flawed, inequitable, and dangerously dismissive of the communities and industries that depend on the Namoi.

“There has been no genuine consultation.

“The Keepit Dam option, in particular, is untenable. The idea that siphoning water from one of the most relied-upon catchments in drought-prone north-west NSW is viable — is, frankly, ridiculous. This is not just about agriculture. It’s about regional jobs, town drinking water, business continuity, and economic sovereignty.

“This roundtable has been convened because the government is breaching its own stated process. It is our position that any decision made without the informed consent of Namoi stakeholders is a breach of trust and a risk to the entire region’s future.

“We are not asking for special treatment, we are demanding due process.

“This roundtable is not a protest. It’s a plan.

“The Namoi will not be sacrificed for short-term political optics.”

Separately, the Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce – which Ms Baldry Adams is also president – has also written to the minister for environment and water expressing its concerns for the Keepit pipeline proposal.