Old pipe plan still kicking
Experts are assessing plans for a new pipeline in Queensland that was first proposed in 1983.
For years, farmers have been looking for new infrastructure to pipe water from the Burdekin Falls Dam in North Queensland to the Bowen-Gumlu horticulture district.
Private investors are backing the 100,000ML pipeline, and the project has attracted $5 million in federal finance to assess its viability.
The 39 shareholders that make up the Bowen Pipeline Company (BPC), chaired by former AgForce and National Farmers' Federation president Brent Finlay, are confident the project will stack up.
The proposed pipeline would run along the Bruce Highway from the Burdekin Bridge at Home Hill to Merinda on the edge of the Bowen district.