{"id":122304,"date":"2026-05-18T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=122304"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:25:17","slug":"talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLIMATE change and Ballarat’s growing population mean maintaining the city’s water supply in the decades to come will require long-term planning, an expert has said.<\/p>\n

John Barnes, a former City of Ballarat mayor and director, and former chair of Central Highlands Water, will provide his view on the future of the city’s water levels at Politics in the Pub on Thursday 21 May from 6.30pm.<\/p>\n

Barnes was chair of the water authority during the millennium drought and oversaw the connection of the Goldfields Superpipe.<\/p>\n

While he said there was no immediate threat to Ballarat’s water supply, and planning from the council and Central Highlands Water was done “very competently”, he saw his talk as a chance to address requirements in coming decades.<\/p>\n

“In the short to medium term, there is nothing to worry about,” he said. “And they regularly review what’s their plans and so on, and a lot of people wouldn’t be aware of that and I’ll be explaining that’s in place and that we’re in reasonably capable hands.<\/p>\n

“But we still need to be thinking decades ahead because this is major infrastructure and it’s essential infrastructure for Ballarat to continue to function.<\/p>\n

“We can meet these challenges in the future. It doesn’t hurt to have thought about them well in advance.”<\/p>\n

He said the superpipe can carry 18 gigalitres, the equivalent of up to five large dairy farms.<\/p>\n

“That gives us a lot of reliability in our system, but is it going to be enough?” Barnes said. “How severe is climate change likely to be? What are the sensible things to be considering now that we might need to ready ourselves for in the next 25, 30, 40 years?”<\/p>\n

He said Ballarat’s water supply was “very secure”, but it would come under increasing pressure from climate change and the city’s population growth.<\/p>\n

Some of the ideas Barnes will discuss in his talk would be whether the superpipe could carry more water, connecting the White Swan and Lal Lal reservoirs to maximise water containment, improving wastewater treatment and building a desalination plant in the west of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The free talk is open to the public at Bunch of Grapes Hotel at 401 Pleasant Street South, Redan.<\/p>\n

Bookings can be made at trybooking.com\/DJXAR<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLIMATE change and Ballarat’s growing population mean maintaining the city’s water supply in the decades to come will require long-term planning, an expert has said. John Barnes, a former City of Ballarat mayor and director, and former chair of Central Highlands Water, will provide his view on the future of the city’s water levels at […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":122431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-122304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTalk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Talk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg?_t=1779337518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris O'Leary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris O'Leary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris O'Leary\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04d05b8986af5e5cfc4f47d99ba8ab8e\"},\"headline\":\"Talk on securing decades-worth of water\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/FeatureImage-15.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/\",\"name\":\"Talk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/FeatureImage-15.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/FeatureImage-15.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/FeatureImage-15.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Former Central Highlands Water chair John Barnes will discuss Ballarat\u2019s long-term water sustainability at a free public event this month. Photo: Politics in the Pub\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Talk on securing decades-worth of water\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04d05b8986af5e5cfc4f47d99ba8ab8e\",\"name\":\"Chris O'Leary\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/chrisoleary\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times","description":"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times","og_description":"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg?_t=1779337518","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris O'Leary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris O'Leary","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris O'Leary","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/04d05b8986af5e5cfc4f47d99ba8ab8e"},"headline":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water","datePublished":"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/"},"wordCount":388,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/","name":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-17T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-21T04:25:17+00:00","description":"Explore the future of Ballarat water supply and long-term security with expert John Barnes at Politics in the Pub on May 21.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/05\/FeatureImage-15.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Former Central Highlands Water chair John Barnes will discuss Ballarat\u2019s long-term water sustainability at a free public event this month. Photo: Politics in the Pub"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/talk-on-securing-decades-worth-of-water\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Talk on securing decades-worth of water"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/04d05b8986af5e5cfc4f47d99ba8ab8e","name":"Chris O'Leary","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/chrisoleary\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122304"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=122304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}