Issue: Ballarat's Cracking

I went home for the weekend to Ballarat for the first time in ages and I noticed heaps and heaps of new cracks in the houses in my street, especially the brick homes. I was also shocked to see the dry crusty surface of the lake I used to sail on. I thought about this more and concluded that drought is having a great effect on the soil and foundations of the houses. The lack of water is causing the houses near the lake to crack as the soil and foundations dramatically move. Millions of dollars of structural damage has occurred due to the drought as well as a loss of habitat and ecosystems.

"The Council are keen to try and get as much water as they can for the lake, and they're going to have to either get that donated, or purchase it, and that will take a little while, so we've stepped in as Central Highlands Water and agreed to provide 150 megalitres basically as soon as we can, so over the next day or two, we'll open the old pipe that hasn't been opened for the last five years, and see what needs to be done there and get some water flowing through it," says John Barnes.