Analysis of SBRC's black strategies has led to new insights into many of SBRC's activities, including an apparent plan to give irrigators the water rights held by the townspeople of Kingaroy. Something stinks and it is not the water.
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Brainwashing

Over the years, SBRC has performed a variety of tricks and antics related to Gordonbrook Dam.

Whether by accident or by design, SBRC's activities appear to consistently reinforce the message that chronic organic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam is a naturally occurring phenomenon that is impossible to prevent, and what's more, the pollution is so bad that it is impossible to treat the water effectively.

In reality, the pollution is probably easily preventable. Most of the pollution of Gordonbrook Dam is probably caused by effluent from a small number of piggeries and/or cattle feedlots. SBRC has never investigated the sources of the pollution.

It appears that Kingaroy residents have gradually been brainwashed into believing that if their rights to water from Gordonbrook Dam are taken from them to be given to irrigators then townspeople will be the winners because they will then get water from Boondooma Dam that is cleaner than water from Gordonbrook Dam.

Water from Boondooma Dam is much more expensive than water from Gordonbrook Dam. It will probably become even more expensive.


SBRC's Antics

• SBRC appears to turn a permanently blind eye to the sources of organic pollution within the catchment area of Gordonbrook Dam.
  
  
• Kingaroar.com is not aware of any investigation ever having been carried out into the sources of the organic pollution, even though it is probable that inexpensive scientific tests could readily identify the sources of the pollution.
  
  
• In January 2014, carcinogenic trihalomethane was detected in tapwater from Gordonbrook Dam. SBRC, in conjunction with public servants in Queensland's Department of Health, claimed that it was safe for everybody except pregnant women and pet animals to drink the water. They claimed that this was because scientific research had shown harmful effects only on animals. In reality, scientific tests had not actually been performed on humans, only on animals, for obvious reasons.
  
  
• In February 2014, Mayor Kratzmann implied that trihalomethane contamination of Kingaroy's tapwater was naturally occurring. No evidence was presented for this. In reality, chloroform, bromoform and associated bromochloro chemicals are formed by the chemical action of chlorine on organic matter. SBRC adds chlorine to water from Gordonbrook Dam to purify it for human consumption. Sometimes, algae in the dam necessitates more chlorine to be added. The algae is fed by organic pollution of the dam. It is probable that the pollution results from farming activities. In summary, it is unlikely that the trihalomethane was naturally occurring.
  
  
• During the trihalomethane scare, SBRC considered a proposal to drain Gordonbrook Dam. It was proposed that if the dam was drained then when it next rained, clean water would refill the dam. This ridiculously unscientific proposal seems to have assumed that somehow the organic matter that pollutes Gordonbrook Dam gets into the water after the water has arrived in the dam. The scientific reality is that whatever causes the organic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam is within the catchment area of the dam. New organic matter would have been washed into the dam by new rainwater runoff. Draining the dam could not have achieved any useful purpose.
  
  
• The idiotic proposal to drain Gordonbrook Dam was seriously discussed at a meeting of SBRC. None of SBRC's councillors and none of SBRC's professional staff and none of SBRC's advisors questioned the scientifically ridiculous proposal to drain the dam.
  
  
• During the trihalomethane scare, Kingaroy residents had to pay for expensive cleaner water from Boondooma dam.
  
  
• SBRC spent more than $10 million on a new water treatment plant. It appears to be possible that a better alternative would have been to spend just a few thousand dollars on identifying the sources of the pollution.
  
  
• SBRC claimed that, despite having the new water treatment plant, water ratepayers would still have to continue paying for some cleaner water from Boondooma Dam to be mixed in with the water from Gordonbrook Dam because the new treatment plant was not able to cope with the high amount of pollution in Gordonbrook Dam.
  
  
• If what SBRC itself says is true about its new water treatment plant, then SBRC spent more than $10 million on a new water treatment plant that is not fit for purpose. SBRC should have demanded its money back. Instead, SBRC does not seem to have expressed much dissatisfaction with the outcome. The constructors of the water treatment plant were also awarded a separate $16+ million contract by SBRC for a wastewater treatment plant upgrade.
  
  
• At SBRC's meeting held on 27th August 2014, Councillor Campbell declared "a personal interest that may be a conflict" in relation to a resolution about SBRC offering for tender 150 ML of water from Gordonbrook Dam. SBRC dealt with the resolution in a session that was closed to the public. At the time, Councillor Campbell was the Deputy Mayor. In 2016 he became Mayor Campbell.
  
  
• Nothing about the nature of Mayor Campbell's "personal interest that may be a conflict" is known to kingaroar.com. Mayor Campbell's declaration raises a possibility that there might be a perceived conflict of interest if Mayor Campbell became involved with any proposal or scheme concerning the dam. To clarify this matter in the public interest, full details of Mayor Campbell's declared personal interest ought to be be published.
  
  
• Another question that in the public interest ought to be answered is did the 150 ML of water from Gordonbrook Dam become surplus in August 2014 as a result of Kingaroy residents being compelled to use water from Boondooma Dam instead of water from Gordonbrook Dam?
  
  
• Another question that in the public interest ought to be answered is did anybody associated with SBRC submit a tender for any of the 150 ML of water from Gordonbrook Dam that became available in August 2014?
  
  
• It has been proposed that Gordonbrook Dam should be given to irrigators. Kingaroy residents would then have to obtain all their water from Boondooma Dam, at great expense.
  
  
• In the minutes of SBRC's budget meeting held on 25th June 2018, it is stated that $12 million is to be spent by SBRC in year 2020/2021 on a "Gordonbrook Dam Wall Upgrade".
      * * * * *
  As far as kingaroar.com is aware, SBRC has yet to publish details of its plan to upgrade Gordonbrook Dam, which will probably be paid for by ratepayers. It is suspected that the upgrade is intended to increase the capacity of the dam.
  
  
• It is suspected that much of the $12 million cost of the upgrade will be taken out of SBRC's financial reserves. It has become an established feature of SBRC's modus operandi to pretend that money spent from reserves costs ratepayers nothing.
  
  
• If irrigators are given the dam, then ratepayers will lose their $12 million as well as losing their valuable dam.
  
  
• In a media release issued on 31st October 2019, SBRC advised Kingaroy residents that the Boondooma Dam pipeline was temporarily deactivated for programmed maintenance. SBRC advised that 100% of Kingaroy's water supply was temporarily being sourced from Gordonbrook Dam which contains algae and organic matter that cause discolouration of the water.
  As usual, the message was clear, that Gordonbrook water is bad whereas Boondooma water is good.
      * * * * *
  In the edition of the South Burnett Times published the next day on 1st November 2019, front page headlines shrieked:-
  "SAFE TO DRINK?"
  "Residents are fed up with paying rates on dirty water"
      * * * * *
  The full story appeared on page 3 of the newspaper. It was mainly a rehash of SBRC's media release of the previous day, plus an attention-grabbing human interest story about a resident who was unhappy about the dirty tapwater.
  Once again, the message was clear, that Gordonbrook water is bad whereas Boondooma water is good.
      * * * * *
  Although at first glance the newspaper story appeared to be critical of SBRC, careful examination of the story did not reveal any editorial criticism. The only criticism of SBRC was that reported from unhappy residents. The news article failed to mention that SBRC has never bothered to investigate the sources of the chronic organic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam. The narrow focus of the newspaper story did nothing to dispel the fantasy that SBRC would like everybody to believe, that Kingaroy's water quality problems cannot be prevented as long as water is sourced from Gordonbrook Dam.
  
  
• In its media release of 31st October 2019, SBRC also stated that:-
  "Council's Water and Wastewater Operation staff are working around the clock to achieve the best results".
  It seems unlikely that SBRC can ever achieve anything resembling "the best results" unless it investigates the sources of the organic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam instead of trying to brainwash the public.

What the Future Might Hold

What can Kingaroy water users expect?

Boondooma Dam is administered by Sunwater. Sunwater is a quango run by public servants. Sunwater is thought by some to be a self-serving and inefficient organisation, with a management that appears to be riddled with incompetence.

Water from Boondooma Dam is much more expensive than water from Gordonbrook Dam. Sometimes Sunwater has to increase its water prices to cover its overheads. Sunwater can increase the price of water from Boondooma Dam by huge amounts if it chooses. Kingaroy residents will have no influence over the issue. There will be nothing that Kingaroy water users will be able to do except pay and pay and pay.


What the Future Should Hold

There are good scientific reasons to think that the pollution of Gordonbrook Dam is preventable. Most of the pollution is probably caused by effluent from a small number of piggeries and/or cattle feedlots.

Inexpensive tests could identify the main sources of the pollution. Polluters would then be required to contain their effluent, just like everybody else.




SBRC's Failed Environmental Strategy

Among the reams of guff published in SBRC's 2015-2016 Annual Report are "Our Five Strategic Priorities". One of SBRC's five strategic priorities is titled "Our Environment".

It states:-
"A sustainable environment, proactively and responsibly managed in partnership with the community for future generations."

When the chronic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam is compared with SBRC's environmental strategy, it becomes clear that SBRC's strategy planners are just having a laugh. Their sick joke is at the expense of Kingaroy water users, and at the expense of the environment.

Proof that SBRC's environmental strategy is pretentious nonsense is provided by the fact that, according to SBRC's very own statements, the water of Gordonbrook Dam is too polluted to be used on its own for domestic consumption, even after the water has been processed by SBRC's expensive new water treatment plant at Gordonbrook.

If SBRC's environmental strategy was genuine then the chronic pollution of Gordonbrook Dam would be prevented. SBRC has not even investigated it.




What was Mayor Campbell's Personal Interest?

On page 69 of the minutes of SBRC's meeting held on 27th August 2014, it is stated that Councillor Campbell declared "a personal interest that may be a conflict" and left the meeting before discussion of an item of business titled "Gordonbrook Water Allocation Tender".

The following resolution was then passed unanimously by the six councillors who remained in the meeting:-
"That council offer for tender the sale of a maximum volume of 150 ML of water, in whole or in part allocations, for take from Council's high priority water allocation in Gordonbrook Dam during the 14/15 water year. Furthermore, the water must be able to be pumped directly from the Gordonbrook Dam impoundment via a legal right of way to the tenderers land."

According to the minutes, Councillor Campbell returned to the meeting one minute after leaving. The short amount of time required by SBRC councillors to rubber-stamp the resolution indicates that discussion about the resolution must have been non-existent.

This resolution was dealt with in closed session, even though it was clearly in the public interest for there to have been public scrutiny of whatever took place.

At the time, Councillor Campbell was the Deputy Mayor. In 2016 he became Mayor Campbell.

Nothing about the nature of Mayor Campbell's "personal interest that may be a conflict" is known to kingaroar.com. Mayor Campbell's declaration appears to imply a personal interest in a conveniently-located property that could potentially benefit from access to water from Gordonbrook Dam, but there could be other possible explanations.

Mayor Campbell's declaration raises a possibility that there might be a perceived conflict of interest if Mayor Campbell became involved with any proposal or scheme concerning Gordonbrook Dam.

To clarify this matter in the public interest, full details of Mayor Campbell's declared personal interest ought to be be published.




Who Pays the Millions of Dollars Taken from SBRC Reserves?

SBRC has a nasty habit of pretending that money taken out of its financial reserves costs ratepayers nothing. Lackeys in local news organisations unquestioningly perpetuate this misconception.

In reality, SBRC reserves are built up from rates paid by all ratepayers. It is a fact that each dollar taken out of SBRC reserves costs ratepayers exactly one dollar.

It was announced that $5 million of the cost of the new water treatment plant at Gordonbrook Dam was paid for out of SBRC reserves. As always, SBRC was not crystal clear about its financial dealings. There was the usual absence of detailed published SBRC accounts, which means that the exact facts are obscure.

However, given what SBRC has stated, and given a relatively low increase in Kingaroy water rates compared with the full cost of the new water treatment plant, this does appear to be what SBRC has done.

If SBRC was operating its affairs properly, then all costs relating to Kingaroy's townwater supply would be paid for by Kingaroy's townwater ratepayers. Non-Kingaroy residents who pay for their own private water supplies should not have to subsidise the supply of tapwater to the residents of Kingaroy town, because non-Kingaroy residents are already paying for their own pumps, pipes, dams, rainwater tanks, etc.

The financial reserve that SBRC dipped into was paid for by all ratepayers. There appears to have been an unethical misallocation of funds.

It seems likely that SBRC will perform the same magic trick to pay for its planned $12 million upgrade of Gordonbrook Dam.

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