Indigo Shire Council has sent Goulburn-Murray Water a message that it will not be ignored when it comes to the sale of groundwater in the Stanley area.
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Councillors unanimously passed a motion at Tuesday’s meeting to write to the water company and request full details of an application to convert an irrigation licence in the Nine Mile catchment to a commercial licence.
Nine Mile catchment is the source of water for Beechworth and Yackandandah, and council is concerned because it is needed for agriculture and firefighting.
Mayor Bernard Gaffney went to The Border Mail with his concerns last week after he was approached by the Stanley community.
He said residents only had scant details of the water application because Goulburn-Murray Water refused to reveal details of the application.
Cr Gaffney told the council meeting he hoped Goulburn-Murray Water could do more than just “talk on water”.
“The Indigo community has major concerns that the pristine resources of Stanley are to become a place to mine and extract water to cart to another location,” he said.
“Goulburn-Murray Water as a statutory authority should have brought this application to the attention of the Stanley, Beechworth and Yackandandah communities so that submissions could have been made.”
Deputy Mayor Barbara Murdoch temporarily chaired the meeting while Cr Gaffney put his motion to the councillors.
Cr Don Chambers supported the mayor in turning the heat on the water company to respond.
“Maybe Goulburn-Murray Water will also learn to walk side by side with Indigo Council and work with us, work with our community,” he said.
Cr James Trenery also backed the mayor’s plea to support the motion.
“I just think it’s absolutely essential at this stage we start working with Goulburn-Murray Water to find out where this is going to end up and the effect it’s going to have on the community,” Cr Trenery said.
Goulburn-Murray Water is yet to budge on its position, telling The Border Mail last week that privacy reasons prevented details being released publicly.
The company had already drawn criticism from Indigo Shire after it granted a commercial licence to mine and extract water at Cue Springs in Stanley without notifying the community.
