Gov’t Criticised After Toxic Pollution in Sydney Drinking Water Catchments Found

Environmental organisation Gardens of Stone Alliance (GOSA) has criticised the NSW Government after extreme pollution levels were recorded Wednesday morning in waterways feeding Sydney’s drinking water supply. 

GOSA—an organisation consisting of the groups The Blue Mountains Conservation Society, Colong Foundation for Wilderness and Lithgow Environment Group, explained that high levels of salinity had been found in the catchments Wangcol Creek and the Coxs River in Central NSW.

With a guideline of 350 microsiemens per centimeter (µS/cm) for slightly disturbed ecosystems, the pollution numbers found on Wednesday were 3,298 μS/cm (over nine times higher) in Wangcol Creek, and 1,389 μS/cm (almost four times higher) at Coxs River.

Salinity relates to the measures of salt in the water, but can also reflect the total dissolved load of ions and contaminants, which could include sulphates, chlorides, heavy metals or other mine-derived toxins harmful to wildlife and water infrastructure.

Extreme exposure to salinity can cause osmotic shock in fish and aquatic invertebrates, and longer ecosystem collapse due to the elimination of sensitive species. 

Pollution continues despite government being warned several times

GOSA stated that the polluted waters stems from discharges by EnergyAustralia’s Mount Piper power station and nearby coal mines operated by Centennial Coal. According to GOSA, these discharges are illegal and unlicensed, and continue after years of community complaints and formal reports about the matter.

GOSA therefore criticises the current Minns Government for not taking action on this matter, despite several warnings.

“This is the latest in a long line of warnings,” said Jacqui Mills from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW on behalf of GOSA.

“Every complaint, every dataset, every spike tells the same story: coal operations in Lithgow are polluting Sydney’s drinking water catchment, and government agencies are failing to stop it.”

Another spokesperson for GOSA additionally told City Hub, that because certain animal species (fish aquatic invertebrates) are being impacted by this pollution, and thereby taken out of the system, this creates a flow effect within the ecosystem. 

The spokesperson further explained that a starting solution to the continuous pollution in these areas is more regulation on the Mount Piper power station and the Centennial Coal mines because they’re ultimately the ones responsible for the pollutants—and that it is the government that has the power to do so.

“The government has the power to regulate these companies to make sure that they’re not polluting our environment, and we think that it is incumbent on the government to make sure that these companies are not allowed to just pollute unabated,” they said.

The spokesperson said that allowing this kind of pollution to continue will have devastating impacts on the local environment.

“The more pollutants that build up over time, the worse the impacts are on fish species and those water dependent ecosystems around the area.

“It’s really a question of values and prioritisation for the government. Do they want to put more regulation on these companies so that they are ultimately held responsible for preventing pollution, or do they want to allow it to keep happening and risk the ecosystem health,” the spokesperson asked.