Brisbane water crisis: Secret 90s near-disaster revealed

In the 1990s, Brisbane was mere days away from running out of drinkable water due to a secret crisis that was kept hidden from the public … until now.

Former Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley told the story publicly for the first time at 612 ABC's Lords of Brisbane event on the weekend.

The panel featured four of Brisbane's previous mayors, including Jim Soorley, Graham Quirk, Campbell Newman and Sallyanne Atkinson.

Mr Soorley told his anecdote after 612 Breakfast presenter Loretta Ryan asked the panel if there was any event that kept them up at night during their terms.

He said up until now, the Brisbane public had no idea how close the city had come to a complete disaster.

How Brisbane nearly ran dry

Mr Soorley recounted how in the 90s Brisbane City Council had a simple way of testing the water in Wivenhoe Dam for signs of toxic algae.

The water would be distilled and sent to a laboratory in Armidale, where scientists would "shove it down the gullets of mice".

If the mice lived, the water was deemed safe to drink.

One day Mr Soorley was sent into a panic when he received word that the mice had all died.

"We would have no water to drink, we would have no water for industry."

Council decided not to tell the public about the dead mouse.

Secret meetings were held with Mr Soorley and a handful of trusted council officers who were all sworn to silence.

They sent more water samples to Armidale, and each morning would receive the bad news that the mice had died again.

As the reserves of drinkable water dwindled, the council came up with emergency plans to shut down industry, ration drinking water, and to fly in tonnes of charcoal from America.

The panic intensified until one of Mr Soorley's advisors, a "genius" young environmental scientist named Mike Ritchie, suggested they try a control experiment.

They sent normal distilled water to Armidale and the following day the mice died, confirming it was something else — and not Wivenhoe Dam water — that was killing the mice.

Mr Soorley said the Brisbane public never found out that they had been saved from the brink of disaster by one young scientist — that is until the Lords of Brisbane event.

He said keeping such a secret would have been much more difficult had social media been around.

Mr Soorley said this whole saga took place over 10 stressful days.

Lords clash on Olympics

The Lords of Brisbane quickly turned into a debate about the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Campbell Newman said he was "bitterly disappointed" with how it was being handled by Brisbane City Council and the state government.

He said the plan to build an Olympic Stadium in Victoria Park would destroy a beloved park and, most likely, blow out to $7 billion.

"To destroy a piece of incredible green space which was set aside in the 1860s-70s is an absolute travesty," Mr Newman said.

Graham Quirk was in charge of the review panel that ecommended building an Olympic stadium at Victoria Park.

He stood by the decision, saying the Olympics was an opportunity to create jobs, infrastructure, and a generation of inspired young people.

"It was never about the two weeks of an Olympic and Paralympic Games," Mr Quirk said.

"It was about recognising that Brisbane as a city is not well known internationally, and it would provide opportunity for investment attraction and for jobs that will flow from that."

Sallyanne Atkinson said in 1986 she put in a bid for Brisbane City Council to host the 1992 Olympics.

She said for her, the Olympics was about putting Brisbane on the map.

"I always thought it was a marketing exercise," Ms Atkinson said.

"Nobody had heard of Brisbane; if they talked about Australia it was Sydney or Melbourne."

Mr Soorley said he cancelled that bid in 1991 when he became mayor, saying he was "not interested" in an event that would enrich a global elite at the expense of locals.

"It's an elite activity that is not going to help the community, so I'm totally opposed,"

"Instead of spending billions on a new stadium and ruining a park, let's get the kids involved in sport and give them some money."