|
What's
happening?
The Water Corporation intend to build a 50
acre chemical plant somewhere in the Shire of Mundaring or Northam. There are
approximately 27 sites being considered, many of which adjoin residential areas
between Glen Forrest and Bakers Hill, including Mundaring Hill.
[read the Mailbag and What
the Papers say...] Currently,
communities from Parkerville through to Kalgoorlie are serviced by a small plant
at Mundaring Weir. The Mundaring Weir Plant and the proposed Mundaring Water Treatment
Plant are known as the Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply (GAWS) a component
of the Perth Metropolitan Water Supply System. Related
government documents:
Where
Mundaring Weir water comes from - The
Mundaring Weir Surface Catchments only equate to 20% of all the water in Mundaring
Weir. (Allow for seasonal fluctuations.)
- Eighty
per cent of all water in Mundaring Weir is groundwater or surface water pumped
from other areas.
- The
majority of Mundaring Weir Water comes from the Gnangara, Leederville and Yarragadee
Aquifers. This groundwater is treated at Groundwater Treatment Plants at Mirrabooka
and Wanneroo and pumped to the Greenmount Reservoir then to the Lower Helena Reservoir
and from there to the Helena Reservoir (Mundaring Weir). This water is then retreated
to suit the GAWS requirements.
Top
of page
Benefits
to Mines and Other New Customers – Esperance Desalination Plant Proposal
or Water From Perth United
Utilities Australia (UUA) 2005 wants to build a Desalination Plant in Esperance
drawing water from the Bay of Isles to service Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
The
UUA proposal attests that groundwater used by Mines in the Goldfields is ‘super-saline’
and that the ‘super salinity of the water imposes indirect costs on the
mines in their operations and processing in the form of reagent costs, rust and
deterioration of mining and processing equipment and from reductions in processing
efficiencies and yield’. [see Inquiry into the Cost of Supplying Bulk
Potable Water to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Draft Report 30 June 2005 Economic Regulation
Authority, pp.27-30:
‘A key feature distinguishing the EKP
[Esperance-Kalgoorlie Pipeline] proposal from the GAWS option is the view that
there is a block of industrial demand for water that is currently unsatisfied
by GAWS and which could be satisfied by the EKP proposal.’ Top
of page
Questions
raised - Who
does the proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant Benefit?
- Is
the building of the proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant to improve the water
quality for the current 115,000 GAWS customers?
- Is
the building of the proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant to replace the super-saline
water the Gold Mines presently use?
- Will
water from the South-West Yarragadee be pumped to Mundaring Weir and be retreated
at the Proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant to service the Mines in the Goldfields
and other customers?
- Will
the treatment of drinking water pumped to Mundaring Weir from a variety of the
Water Corporation's diverse sources of water taste better than it does now?
Do
we need the Proposed Mundaring Water Treatment Plant? Top
of page
Can
we make a difference – You bet!
Supporters
of this site have achieved the following: - Delayed
the Parkerville and Stoneville developments since 1997
-
Delayed the building of the Mundaring Water Treatment Plant
- Ellenbrook
scaled down from 50,000 to 28,000
-
Leda placed on the National Estate as determined in the Hague (equivalent to the
Bungle Bungles and the Great Barrier Reef)
-
The best part of Hepburn Heights saved after taking the State Government to the
Supreme Court and the High Court in Canberra and winning
- Protective
legislation for the Swan Valley
- Tourism
grants for the Swan Valley
- Logging
of old growth forest minimised
- Ningaloo
Reef saved from some kinds of development
If
these groups working on their own have achieved this, can you imagine what we
can do together?
Can
you imagine what we can do with your help? What
can I do? - Join
one of the local residents associations who support
this site.
- Contact
Ken Walter, Project Director for the site selection of the Mundaring water treatment
plant see ‘Political Contacts’
- Write
to your local politicians – Local, State
and Federal
- Buy
a bumper sticker – place it on the back window
driver’s side
-
Talk to you friends, relatives, neighbours and workmates
- Write
to your local newspaper
- Keep
up-to-date by visiting this site
|
Click on image to see what a 50-acre (20 hectare) Chemical Drinking Water Treatment
Plant looks like
Click on image to see the aerial map of twenty of the possible 27 sites being
considered
|
