Ian Mackay is the chairman of MRCCC, the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee.
A retired science teacher, he’s been involved in water education and water issues since the early 1990s.
Back then, a number of sites on the Mary were investigated for a dam that Maroochy Shire chairman Fred Murray said was urgently needed so the coast wouldn’t run out of water by the year 2000.
He was involved in the lengthy campaign to stop the hastily conceived Traveston Crossing Dam and wasn’t alone in wondering initially if the Borumba Pumped Hydro Project currently being investigated by the State Government was a devious way to announce a new dam.
On 23 September, at the next Friday Environment Forum, Ian will describe the past, present and future use of the water resource that is the Mary River.
“With the Mary Basin Water Resource Plan currently under review, and with a good deal of the Mary’s water already being exported to Noosa, the Sunshine Coast and even Brisbane, there’s a growing feeling that the Mary is looked on as the Magic Pudding, that just keeps on giving,” Ian said.
Everyone is welcome at the NPA Environment Centre, 5 Wallace Drive, Noosaville on 23 September to understand the issues of the Mary River Basin. The forum starts at 10.30am and morning tea is available at 10-10.25am.
Entry is $5 by tap and go at the door which includes morning tea/coffee. The organisers ask that masks are worn to protect the vulnerable in the audience.
Join the bird observers at 8.30am in the carpark for interpretive birding.
For more information, visit noosaparks.org.au/friday-environment-forum/
