BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 936 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015
MOPPED UP PUMPED POLLIES: Jacinta Allan, Lisa Neville and Maree Edwards. Photo: ANDREW PERRYMAN
By LAURA HURLEY
PRESSURE caused by Bendigo’s rising groundwater troubles has been eased, with the state government throwing the city a lifeline. Water minister Lisa Neville yesterday announced rising groundwater will now be pumped to storage in the New Chum mine, “buying time” for the government to find a permanent solution and alleviating the need to pump water
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State funds groundwater solution
to the Woodvale ponds. “We’re very confident we’ve got an arrangement that will provide us with at least four months,” she said. “We also think with some conversations with the potential new owner of the mine that we can ex-
tend that arrangement for at least 10 months.” “(The funding) really provides a medium-term solution... It means we will have some time to look at the long term.” Ms Neville also committed $1.5 million from the Victorian govern-
20-page seniors feature inside
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ment to fund a feasibility study to investigate pumping groundwater from the North New Moon mine shaft to Coliban Water’s Epsom water treatment facility. Using Coliban Water’s Epsom plant would address the groundwater issue over the next three to five
years while a permanent solution is developed. The state government will also cover some of the costs of pumping the water, which currently fall on the Bendigo Trust. Bendigo Trust chief executive Ian Hart welcomed the announcements, and said they would mitigate the issue of rising groundwater in the short term. Continued Page 5 EDITORIAL Page 19
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