SAVING PERTH’S WATER SUPPLY

Clearwater Revival of East Wanneroo (CREW) is a resident’s initiative started in 2002 that has grown in scope to include Perth’s general public because of the size of the issues being dealt with. We could say it stands for Everyone’s Water because East Wanneroo sits adjacent to and on top of the Priority One (P1) public drinking water resource boundary of the Gnangara Mound which supplies 60% of Perth’s water (water for approximately 700,000 of Perth’s people).
 
In late November 2009 the state government proposed a huge industrial estate in East Wanneroo on state owned land within the P1 public drinking water resource boundary. Three categories of industry were proposed; one, ‘Special Industrial’ requires a minimum one kilometre buffer because of its toxic pollution or because of its nuisance to residents from dust, noise and smell. The question is; given Perth’s climate and the world wide problems looming with clean water supplies, how come maintaining the purity and supply of our drinking water is not a top priority for the WA government and they choose to risk it instead?

Colin Barnett’s Liberal Party predecessor Richard Court had an upper house committee conduct exhaustive studies of the Gnangara water mound. Their Report of the Select Committee on Metropolitan Development and Groundwater Supplies stressed that this resource for Perth was vital to protect it from being used for development purposes under pressure from government bodies and private developers. In fact due to the findings of this committee, who went around the world to gather expert advice, they re-drew the P1 boundaries of the Gnangara Mound and residents whose land fell within its new boundaries had land resumed. The last year a resident had to leave the land was in 2001. Just eight years later the Barnett Government puts out a strategy to enable two parcels of state owned land within that Priority 1 boundary; South Pinjar (656 hectares) and  Jandabup (545 hectares) totalling  1,201 hectares within the P1 boundary to be sold to the captains of industry. In a tragic paradox, John Day was one of the five men who sat on the Select Committee board and signed off on the importance of maintaining this boundary, is now the minister for planning.

Let us quote from this document: Recommendation 20.1 states
 
“Development of industrial areas over ground water resources can cause gross pollution of the water resource, and the Select Committee strongly recommends that the development of industry should not be permitted in ground water areas used for public water supply.”