Contamination

Who really takes care of our water supply, how many officers are out in the field taking any notice? Suspected 'Toxic waste' dumped illegally, close to one of the States' main drinking water catchments. This happens to be a crucial water supply for WA, but it seems the only time the DEC are aware of what's going on is when it's reported by the public. The DEC pollution response unit were called in to remove the drums, which had been dumped less than 50m from Pickering Brook in Helena, the DEC claim to be doing further testing.
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Strange that, how many times are the public told "We will investigate" or ' We'll take samples' yet never another word is spoken. This is not the first time drums have been found and it won't be the last, it's only the dump site that's changed it seems.

.More than 190 contamination notices where sent to home owners in new Port Coogee development after the Department of Conservation and Environment reassessed the quality of the local ground water. The notices prevent land owners from sinking bores and drawing groundwater, and must be included on the land title for future buyers. So can the government explain why homes can still be built there, and why people weren't told before their purchase that the ground water is contaminated?

.The project developer, Australand also received notices over land not yet sold. I find this a fraudulent act on behalf of government and Australand, all monies should be returned to unsuspecting buyers. Why wasn't the land & groundwater checked before blocks were sold, to make a statement like 'To the best of their knowledge there is no issue with the land' does that mean they did or didn't check, has this law of disclosure just come in?

.To now tell landowners they were aware of extensive remediation by the DEC before buying the land from the State but the Contaminated Sites Act, which came into effect I believe in 2003-2006 allowed the department to classify the land without prior notice to owners. Seeing as the land was under extensive remediation it should not have been sold, how SAFE is the soil seeing as the water is contaminated. I don't remember LandCorp adding in their advertising that some blocks in the estate once had a foundry near by, or how PCB's from the old power station would be in the soil. The Land disclosure Act should have made buyers aware.

More Confusion

Again the public have been informed our water consumption has increased by almost 4 per cent each year since 2000, and is expected to climb another 40- 45 per cent by 2030 according to the Water Corporation.

It was finally admitted that demand was driven by mining and urban expansion, and would lead to a fresh water shortage, as WA contended with rainfall levels that have been dropping since the 1950's. The strategic planning manager commented that the annual water use has climbed more than half a trillion litres this century, in 2007-08 total state water use was 2426 billion litres compared with 1790 billion litres in 1999-2000. Yet we can't forget Water Corp's graphs from 2.1/2 years ago showing our rainfall hadn't altered since 1910, so which set are we to believe!

. So that leaves one asking, how good are the sustainability strategies government carries out each year, it always seems communities are told to cut back. Why is industry given a free reign, how many desalination plants or reclamation plants have they paid for. It was stated that Perth metropolitan area and the Pilbra would possible be hit the hardest by future shortages.

.With a growing population and an expected 15 per cent down turn in rainfall, meant urban areas could face a total annual shortfall of up to 75 billion litres. More mining in the Pilbra was likely to double water demand by 2030, Mr Hauck said it's not surprising we have a collective water crisis. Yet we still have water in dams that government prefer to pump out to sea than run through reverse osmosis and use in the metro dams.

What Next With Our Water?

One wonders what the Water Corporation will try next.

They are still insisting WA has a grave water shortage. Water Corp intended to draw at least 140 gigalitres from the Gnangara mound this year, these plans were rejected amid concerns that wetlands across Perth could dry out as a result of the strain on the ground water system.


It's still being said it's not necessary to build the Binningup desalination plant, Water Corp have known for 5 years that water is available from Wellington Dam. Agritech a Perth based company presented their plans to Dr Gallop some year ago, it involved a gravity powered reverse osmosis plant and could have been the first of its kind. The plant would cost approximately $220 million to build which is less thanbe free and easy when it comes to spending tax payers money.

Spending 80 cents a kilolitre to treat the water instead of a forecasted $2.50 from Binningup desalination, you don't need to be an Einstein to work out what the public preference would be with the continued exorbitant price rises. Ground water levels were reported to be at their lowest due to the dry climate, yet Wellington Dam has over flowed 4 out of 5 years. So why do Water Corp prefer opening the sluice to dump water out to sea when this water could have been used? Then there is the other matter of tax payers money going out the window because the job of clearing at dams has been so lax, that only a minute amount of run off is entering the dams. a quarter of what would be spent with the Water Corporation's proposal. They appear to
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So why do the Department of Water want to SPEND $250,000 for an independent review, (another review) looking at alternative sources of potable water? If our potable water is so scarce why is industry been given the free reign, why aren't industry using recycled water? Who is the water at Wellington Dam being kept for? Why does water Corp want to inject recycled sewage into our drinking water? Maybe Mr Barnett can explain?

The farce with Water Corp has been going on and on, one has to wonder if they are capable of doing the job they are there to do? There have been many concerns about the environmental damage through the strain placed on the Gnangara mound, if the state government won't pull Water Corp into line it's time for the Federal Government to step in.

The Overdue State.

Again the West Australian public witness just how well our Government Departments are working. No wonder they call us the Wait Awhile state


The crucial report into the management of Perth's biggest source of drinking water is more than two years over due. Which isn't really surprising. Have the water corporation exceeded the safe limits imposed on the Gnangara Mound?


The Department of Water and the Department of Environment and Conservation - DEC have once again failed to protect our environment and natural resources. Compliance with ministerial conditions from 2003-04 to 2005-06 is likely to repeat major concerns, about over reliance on the already stressed aquifer, not forgetting the breaches of ministerial conditions imposed to protect the Mound.


The report should contain long-overdue essential water planning information which is needed before summer. Previous audits by the EPA have warned that allocations from the mound needed to be reviewed urgently. The government are seriously letting the people down, why has no action been taken to reduce allocations and planning or on failures to comply with ministerial conditions?

For an environmental Minister to make such a flippant remark re: the report "It would not contain information which will make a difference to the state of the mound'' If he was doing his job and seeing to it that ministerial compliance were adhered to, instead of just accepting that ho-hum it will just reinforce the fact that conditions are again being exceeded. It's time for this Governemnt to to start doing its job and protect the mound and look to other areas for water.



How can this government be representing the people of this state when they neglect to listen?

How many government departments actually do what they are employed to do?


We rely on them in so many areas environment, health, education, water, power, gas, housing (releasing land), infrastructure etc. and what we mostly get is failure after failure.