2020-08-11 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                   11 AUGUST 2020


Filling the Lagoon/Wave Pool
The application material states ‘The pool will be initially filled by rainfall and supplemented by
water tanker. As per the water management report, the pool levels would then be maintained by
the 2 x 280,000L water tanks.’ No information has been provided on the how the 280,000 litre
‘top up’ tank is proposed to initially be filled.
As a volume for the lagoon/wave pool has not been provided with the application material, an
estimate of the water volume has been calculated based on an average depth of 0.75m,
estimating the volume at 3,000,000 litres. At this volume, calculations indicate that if the pool
relies on direct rain falling on the pool surface only in order to fill up, that under average weather
conditions, the pool will either not fill or will fill very slowly (approx. 50mm per year), as average
evaporation is approximately equal to average rainfall. As such, a large and statistically unusual
rainfall event is required to fill the pool by this method.
If the lagoon/wave pool is required to be filled from empty by water transported to the site, it is
estimated this would require approximately 300 water truck movements to and from the site,
requiring the use of the North Shore ferry service. In addition, the 280,000 litre ‘top up’ tank
proposed to maintain the water level is likely to require a supplementary water source (apart from
excess runoff from the pool surface) in order to maintain pool water levels during extended dry
periods, which would require additional water truck deliveries.
The proposal for filling the lagoon/wave pool via natural rainfall is not considered feasible, and it
is likely that a supplementary water source would be required to fill the lagoon/wave pool and to
maintain the water level. The requirement to deliver the water to the site would put undue
pressure on existing North Shore infrastructure (including the road network and ferry service),
and would likely impact on resident’s amenity along the route, the regular operations of the
service during construction, and potentially during dry periods where additional water will be
required to maintain levels.
On 12 June 2020 the applicant provided further information stating:
      If the filling of the pool is unable to be fully undertaken by natural rainfall as per TOD
      Engineering Consultants recommendations, the pool will be supplemented using a water
      tanker from a private property on The North Shore. The applicant also owns a property at 1
      Noosa River Dr, which includes part of the river.
The proposal to utilise the private property at 1 Noosa River Drive for the filling of water trucks is
not supported, as the lot is a small residential lot accessed via an easement over the adjoining
property (refer to Figure 10). Approximately 300 water trucks accessing the site to retrieve water
from the Noosa River would put undue pressure on existing North Shore infrastructure,
predominantly Noosa River Drive, and would substantially impact on resident’s amenity in this
area.




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