This is where your tap water starts its journey. Aerial view of Sydney water catchments. Are you a Sydney Water customer? If so, the water that comes out of your tap comes from land managed by the Sydney Catchment Authority. This land includes five catchments — Warragamba, Woronora, Upper Nepean, Blue Mountains and Shoalhaven — covering less than 2% of the land in NSW. It supplies drinking water for 60% of the state’s population.
This largely unspoilt, native bushland captures and filters our drinking water. It is strictly managed to protect drinking water quality; unauthorised or illegal access attracts fines of up to $44,000. Yet coal seam gas (CSG) licences and wells have been approved in our drinking water catchments, and the current legislation does not stop CSG mining or exploration there.
The simple facts
Sydney Catchment Authority Sign
Our water catchments are protected, by law, by the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) — whose primary mandate is the PROTECTION of our drinking water for the purpose of public health.
These ‘Special Areas’ are considered so sensitive they are protected by fines up to $44,000 for unauthorised or illegal access.
In December 2012 the NSW Minister for Primary Industries replaced the entire Board of the SCA. The new chairperson is a former director of two of Australia’s largest mining companies, and for the first time in its history there is no public health expert on the SCA Board.
A CSG well has been drilled in the Warragamba catchment and the Department of Planning and Infrastructure has recommended approval for Apex Energy to proceed with a 16 CSG well project in and around the Woronora and Upper Nepean catchments (though, thankfully, in July 2013 the Planning Assessment Commission rejected a time extension that would have allowed the project to proceed at this time). The production plan is for hundreds of CSG wells there.
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell made a clear promise to protect our water catchments from the risks of coal seam gas mining, a promise he has broken.
Campaigning for:
A ban on CSG development in drinking water catchments
A ban on fracking
A freeze on CSG exploration and mining
A royal commission into the impacts of CSG development
The most powerful force in this country is a community working together to stand up for its rights. Please don’t underestimate your contribution – make a difference…Get involved!