Brisbane suburbs nearly ran out of water as flood torrent shut down Mt Crosby treatment plant Watch the Brisbane River rise due to the ongoing flooding problems around the state. SEVEN Brisbane suburbs were hours away from running out of water in January when heavy rains in the Lockyer Valley created a muddy torrent that shut down the city's critical water treatment plants at Mt Crosby. Premier Campbell Newman urged residents to stop using water, creating an immediate surge in demand. Authorities organised the distribution of 40,000-litre bottles of water. Treatment plant flood-proofing demand Floods class action set to be filed Since the crisis, state water officials have been working on a solution to the "Achilles heel" in Brisbane's water security, and now say they have a low-cost solution that relies on better planning and communication rather than concrete and pipes. Once implemented, it would give Brisbane 60 hours of emergency water supply without Mt Crosby's 250Ml daily production by topping up all the city's water reservoirs, building extra pumps for pipelines and importing water through the grid from other surrounding areas. Mt Crosby plants, which treat 40 per cent of the region's water, were overwhelmed by the Australia Day flooding in the Lockyer, a catchment heavily damaged by the 2011 flood. The plants had to be shut down for 12 hours when they were unable to treat muddy Brisbane River water with turbidity levels soaring to an unprecedented 4000 NTU. Eventually, water released from the Wivenhoe Dam flushed the system and the plants were restarted. Under the state's solution, no new pipelines or independent water sources would be developed to supply Mt Crosby with clean water. The Wivenhoe dam spillway has been opened to bring dam levels down to 75% Instead, all of the existing water reservoirs used by the state and water providers would be filled to the brim before heavy rain in the Lockyer, providing 36 hours of emergency water. Another 24 hours of emergency water would come from pre-emptive movements in the water grid and from extra pumps, costing $1.63 million, to move water more quickly through pipelines. Seqwater admitted it was not as prepared as it could have been in January, when its reservoirs were only partly filled. Manganese contamination in North Pine Dam further complicated the situation. "It was known at the time that the river was rising and raw water quality would worsen; however it was assumed it would remain manageable as per previous events therefore potential risk factors were not identified," a government assessment said. The state's solution still does not guarantee total water security. High turbidity in the Brisbane River could shut down Mt Crosby for more than 60 hours if there is too much rain in creeks and rivers downstream of the Wivenhoe.