Clarence Valley Council still ignoring water quality woes?

With the number of days with temperatures over 35°C predicted to increase and average Clarence Valley temperatures predicted to rise by up to 1°C commencing as early as five year's time, one wonders when Clarence Valley Council is going to face the fact that temporary flushing of street water pipes will not remain a solution for long - whether the cause is heat, loose sediment, low/slow river flow at the uptake site or high demand in urban areas.

Child's wading pool filled with 'green' tap water
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Three excerpts from The Daily Examiner on 17 January 2015:

THE discolouration of Clarence Valley's water in isolated areas has been a recurring hot topic of conversation for more than a year, and the ongoing problem has affected at least one business.

Local company GDC Water Trucks had to refund a water delivery last week and replace it with another load, after filling an above-ground pool with water from council stand pipes.

"The pool guy said dump it and start again," business owner Trudy Clydesdale said.

"The water looked clear when it was coming out of the truck, but in large quantities it looked like mud."

They filled it from a different stand pipe hoping that would fix it but it didn't make much of a difference……

"The first pool we filled this summer was an in-built pool with a good filtration system so he just filtered it out.

"But those little pumps that come with the above-ground (pool) filters just don't cut it."

Clarence Valley Council yesterday advised GDC Water Trucks it would amend the water meter so they were not charged for the job, but fuel and labour would be on them.

"We're pretty happy. (The council) explained it is an issue at this time with the heat," Mrs Clydesdale said.

"He said they would come back over summer and they'll just keep flushing if need be."

TWO years ago, Kelly Clark used to brag to her friends and family interstate about how great the water was in the Clarence Valley.

Now the Iluka mum won't drink it, and is hesitant to bathe her son in it.

Earlier this week, Ms Clark filled up a paddling pool from the tap for her three-year-old son to play in to find the water was a brown-green colour.

"I've lived in the area for six to seven years and we used to have great water here," she said.

"Two years ago I filled the same pool up with crystal-clear water; last year it was slightly discoloured.

"I want to know what's happened in the last 16months. Why has it drastically changed?"

When she posted the picture on Facebook, it became clear she wasn't the only one experiencing water problems. "I've had heaps of (comments in my) inboxes and people sending me photos," Ms Clark said.

Facebook users wrote of water-quality issues in houses at Chatsworth Island, South Grafton, Junction Hill, Yamba and Grafton.

Many of those were saying they had turned to bottled water in favour of the discoloured tap supply, despite council assurances their supply was fine to drink……

"It doesn't seem right that we live in a western society, pay quite a lot for water and we can't even drink it.

CLARENCE Valley Council has confirmed no long term solutions are being considered for isolated water quality issues.

Council's director for works and civil Troy Anderson said council's water quality was regularly tested against all required guidelines and standards, and currently complied.

A report to Council regarding additional water treatment barriers was presented last November, but no further action was taken.

Mr Anderson said only three dirty water complaints had been received since the start of the year, and that in each case the mains were flushed until they ran clean.

If customers are experiencing water quality issues, they are requested to call Council on 66430200 so that the problem can be attended to. Council does not monitor social media.*

BACKGROUND

All clear on dirty water | Clarence Valley Daily Examiner

www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/all-clear-on-dirty-water/2250424/

May 7, 2014 - THE council says it's safe to drink, but the unappealing colour of tapwater in households across the Clarence Valley this week has left some ...

Users still dirty over brown water - Grafton Daily Examiner

www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/users...dirty...brown-water/2257414/

May 14, 2014 - COMPLAINTS of dirty tap water are still trickling in from around the region and Clarence Valley Council expects to see more in the next week.

Yamba's water woes continue but Clarence Valley Council just shrugs its shoulders

northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/.../yambas-water-woes-continue-but-clare...

Sep 20, 2014 - Intermittent but persistent problems with the quality of drinking water in the Lower Clarence continue, with episodes of discoloured/dirty water ...

* WARNING: If you make a complaint about poor water quality to Clarence Valley Council be prepared to be receive a letter/email stating any or all of the following - there is no current water quality problem/there have been no previous reports of dirty water in your street/ implying you not telling the truth.
If you talk to the media expect that doubts will be sown concerning what you have said about water quality.

Gas and petroleum exploration and production licences cover 80% of the entire Australian Great Artesian Basin

The Australian 7 November 2014:

IT is one of the world's largest underground water reservoirs, covering an area bigger than Iran. But a new report has found that the Great Artesian Basin's pumping power comes from an area smaller than Tasmania.

A scientific review has raised questions about the basin's cap­acity to withstand water extraction necessary for coal-seam gas mining.

The concern is not the impact on the basin's volume, but the pressure that keeps bores flowing from Cape York to Coober Pedy.

The report, to be presented at today's meeting of the NSW Great Artesian Basin Advisory Group, has found the reservoir's "recharge" area is about a third as big as previously thought, covering less than 10 per cent of the 1.7 million sq km basin. The area where the basin is topped up by more than 5mm a year — the minimum needed to keep the basin pressurised — is about a quarter of this.

The report says just 0.2 per cent of the basin provides recharge waters in excess of 30mm a year. Most of this is in north-western NSW's Pilliga region, where energy giant Santos is conducting exploratory drilling for a controversial CSG project. "The significance of the recharge zones is not so much as an immediate water supply, but that they provide the pressure head required to drive the water to the surface," says the report, by soil scientist Robert Banks.

Excerpts from GREAT ARTESIAN BASIN RECHARGE SYSTEMS AND EXTENT OF PETROLEUM AND GAS LEASES, SoilFutures Consulting Pty Ltd, October 2014:

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) of Australia extends over 22% of the Australian continent where it is the only reliable groundwater or surface water source. The GAB contains 65 000 km3 (or 115 658 Sydney Harbours) of groundwater which is released under pressure to the surface through natural springs and artesian bores across its extent (QDNRM 2012).

Much of the groundwater held in the GAB is very old, having taken thousands to many hundreds of thousands of years to reach its current position in the basin from the recharge beds which are predominantly around the margins of the basin. Modern recharge is not thought to add significantly to the volume stored in the basin however it provides the crucial pressure head to keep the artesian waters flowing to the surface across this massive expanse of land. In most areas, the bulk of the GAB has a recharge value of less than 0.1 mm/yr…..

The following description of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is given in Ransley and Smerdon (2012).

The GAB contains an extensive and complex groundwater system. It encompasses several geological basins that were deposited at different times in Earth's history, from 200 to 65 million years ago in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. These geological basins sit on top of deeper, older geological basins and in turn, have newer surface drainage divisions situated on top of them (e.g. the Lake Eyre and Murray-Darling river basins). In this context – as a groundwater basin – the GAB is a vast groundwater entity underlying one-fifth of Australia.

Discharge from the GAB aquifers occurs naturally in the form of concentrated outflow from artesian springs, vertical diffuse leakage from the Lower Cretaceous-Jurassic aquifers towards the Cretaceous aquifers and upwards to the regional watertable and as artificial discharge by means of free or controlled artesian flow and pumped abstraction from water bores drilled into the aquifers.

For the GAB, like many other semi-arid to arid zone aquifers around the world, the current rate of recharge is significantly less than discharge. Groundwater currently stored in the Cadna-owie – Hooray Aquifer and equivalents is a legacy from higher recharge rates that occurred during much wetter periods in the early Holocene and Pleistocene age (essentially the last 2.6 million years).

The significance of the recharge zones to the GAB is not so much as an immediate water supply to central parts of the basin and natural discharge areas, but that they provide the pressure head required to drive the water to the surface. Removal of this pressure through water abstraction associated particularly with Coal Seam Gas (where local drawdown of in excess of 1000 m can be experienced around gas fields) risks removing the driving force of many of the free flowing artesian bores and springs in the GAB…..

Concern regarding CSG extraction is raised in Ransley and Smerdon (2012) in the following quote. "CSG production in the Surat Basin targets the Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures. The main CSG producing fields are located in the northern Surat Basin in a broad arc extending from Dalby to Roma. For gas to be harvested, the coal seams need to be depressurised by pumping groundwater from tens of thousands of wells intersecting the Walloon Coal Measures. Drawdowns of several hundred metres will be generated by the depressurisation and significant volumes of groundwater are to be pumped from the Walloon Coal Measures –averaging about 75 to 98 GL/year over the next 60 years (RPS Australia East Pty Ltd, 2011). This process will induce drawdown in overlying and underlying GAB aquifers, the amount of which will depend on the leakiness of the system."…..

In NSW the recharge areas of higher than 5 mm/yr are almost entirely contained within the east Pilliga area……

The above results show that:

 Recharge along the Jurassic to Cretaceous margins of the GAB is crucial to providing hydraulic head which drives the whole system.

 Significant recharge to the bulk of the GAB is much more limited in area than

previously thought.

 Although approximately 30% of the GAB is mapped as recharge, only 9 – 10% of the GAB is effective recharge which maintains the pressure head on the bulk of the GAB (excluding the Carpentaria basin).

 Only 2.3% of the GAB has effective recharge of greater than 5 mm/yr.

 Only 0.2% of the GAB has effective recharge of 30 – 79 mm/yr.

 In NSW, the main occurrence of recharge >30 mm is in the east Pilliga between

Coonabarabran and Narrabri.

 Draw down of many hundreds of metres is reported in Ransley and Smerdon (2012) for the northern Surat basin coal seam gas fields where coal seams are being

dewatered to release gas.

 Draw down of in excess of 1000 m is proposed in the Pilliga in the south eastern Surat Basin (ICSG Forum, 2014).

 Both of the Pilliga and the northern Surat gas fields or license areas occur in the very limited high recharge (>30 mm) areas of the GAB.

 Excessive draw down of pressure heads in the recharge zone of the GAB associated with gas extraction, has the potential to reduced pressure heads on artesian waters across much of the GAB, and potentially stopping the free flow of waters to the surface at springs and bores.

 Gas and petroleum exploration and production licenses cover 80% of the entire GAB.

 Gas and petroleum exploration and production licenses cover 79% of the critical

higher recharge areas of the GAB……

Consideration should be given to a basin wide approach to the management of the GAB with respect to minerals and natural resources, particularly with respect to potentially wide ranging activities such as gas and petroleum production where groundwater from below the GAB is drawn down and produced as an excess or waste byproduct of such development. In particular, serious thought needs to be given to the management of the few high recharge zones within the GAB and how these might interact with future water supplies…...

The East Pilliga area between Narrabri and Coonabarabran in NSW has Soil and Land Capability Classification (SLC) of between 4 and 6, meaning that there are no contiguous areas of Biophysical Agricultural Land (BSAL) in the area. BSAL is defined as Classes 1 to 3. This means that currently no special consideration which includes landscape function is given with regard to CSG and Mining applications in the high recharge zone areas of theGAB within the East Pilliga……

Disposal problems with waste water from coal-bed methane wells in the U.S.

Full article at http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Rubinstein_article_final.pdf

Yamba's water woes continue but Clarence Valley Council management just shrugs its shoulders

Intermittent but persistent problems with the quality of drinking water in the Lower Clarence continue, with episodes of discoloured/dirty water becoming a characteristic of Yamba’s water supply in 2014.

Clarence Valley Council’s explanations for this state of affairs have been varied, however little appears to have been done to rectify the situation to date.

This was the colour of Yamba township’s drinking water in February 2014:

The Daily Examiner 5 February 2014:

Clarence Valley Council director for works and civil Troy Anderson said he did not know whether the discoloured water was here to stay, but claimed it was safe to consume.

"The issue is only associated with the aesthetics of the water, it does not affect the quality," Mr Anderson said.

He said the reason for the brown water was because the flow was coming from Shannon Creek Dam which had a "higher water colour" than Nymboida.

Also adding to the tinge is a high level of biofilm in the pipes.

"In December we had requirements from NSW Heath Department to increase the residual levels of chlorine (as a greater disinfectant)," Mr Anderson said.

As a result, the added chlorine has killed off the biofilms, meaning they are dissolved into the water, adding to the discolouration.

"It is having an impact on the water colour, but they are not harmful," Mr Anderson said.

"Once they build up resilience to the added chlorine, they will reform in the pipes."

He said the council was working to control the colour of the water, but could not confirm or deny whether the icky brown liquid was here to stay.

The Daily Examiner 23 February 2014:

CLARENCE Valley residents are about to find out if the prospect of a glass of crystal clear water straight from the region's water supply is a "false hope".

At Tuesday's Clarence Valley Council meeting a notice of motion from deputy mayor Craig Howe was passed, ordering council staff to look into the feasibility of installing a water filtration plant for the region's water supply.

Over the summer, residents on the Lower River in particular, have complained of dirty water coming out of their taps.

Cr Howe admitted the source of the discolouration occurred "downstream" of where a filtration plant would have any effect, but felt he owed it to ratepayers to do something about the colour of the water.

The lone voice on council against the proposal, Cr Andrew Baker, seized on this point.

He said any investigation of a filtration plant only offered "false hope" to residents and would not do what people wanted it to do: provide clear water from their taps, at some cost in increased water rates.

After some amendments council voted eight to one for staff to investigate the cost and efficiency of a water filtration plant, what water rate increases it would incur and other ongoing costs and whether the plant could guarantee a clear water supply.

This report should be available for the April council meeting.

The Daily Examiner 27 February 2014:

VALLEY residents alarmed by the sight of brown water running from their taps should start to see the problem clearing soon.

Clarence Valley Council is continuing to test the water weekly as it attempts to resolve the problem that emerged earlier this year.

Most of the complaints received have been from the Yamba area but the task of finding a solution has been made more difficult by the apparently random spread of properties affected.

Mayor Richie Williamson said yesterday the testing had shown the discoloured water presented no health risks but said he understood why people were unhappy with the colour of the water coming from their taps.

He said the problem had been caused by the combination of higher water temperatures and an increase in the amount of chlorine added to the water supply following a recommendation from NSW Health.

These events contributed to naturally occurring biofilm build-up in the water pipes coming loose and entering the water supply.

"We are confident flushing of pipes and temperatures receding should start to overcome the water discolouration," Cr Williamson said.

"The biofilm will also build increased resistance to the chlorine, which will lessen the amount in the water supply."

He said the council had 205 customer service requests relating to water quality since January 1, including four complaints last weekend.

"We have discussed the matter with NSW Health and the Office of Water and we will continue to work with them to achieve the best solution," Cr Williamson said.

"They have agreed with the rectification steps council has taken so far."….

The Daily Examiner 14 May 2014:

Last week The Daily Examiner reported on a spike in discoloured water, which was an ongoing issue for some people in the Valley in the past few months.

Mr Anderson said the latest influx of complaints began last week, with 24 complaints made between Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday there were two complaints, none on Thursday and three on Friday. One complaint was received at the weekend and three on Monday morning.

In most cases the council attributed the discolouration to last week's cold snap, which may have destroyed micro-organisms that live in water lines.

The discolouration is believed to be the result of them flushing through the system and Mr Anderson assured residents there were no health risks associated with using the water.

The Daily Examiner 30 May 2014:

Earlier this month, Clarence Valley residents voiced concerns about intermittent problems with discoloured, and at times smelly, tap water.

Council's works and civil director Troy Anderson assured the public there were no health risks associated with the water, but the majority of people told The Daily Examiner they would not be game to test it.

Mrs Beare-Bath went one step further and sent a sample of her discoloured tap water for independent tests at the Environmental Analysis Laboratory at Southern Cross University.

The results of the sample came back this week and showed certain elements did not meet the Australian Drinking Guidelines.

SCU lab manager Graham Lancaster said the water was relatively safe to drink but below expectations.

"It's not going to cause any major illnesses but it's not perfect," he said.

According to the results, the sample's acidic pH was below the drinking water guidelines and the bacteria was marginally above guidelines. The water had elevated total coliform bacteria but low faecal bacteria, and elevated levels of iron and manganese.

Mr Lancaster said higher iron and manganese levels were not a major issue for drinking, but said it could cause stains in clothing.

The results came with a recommendation for the council to get the lines flushed and arrange testing.

Treatment to remove the iron and manganese and also neutralise the pH was also recommended.

"It's important to note that it's just a one-off sample," Mr Lancaster said.

"It's likely due to dirty lines. Often in the end of certain areas, lines can be a little bit dirtier."

This was the colour of Yamba’s drinking water on 5-6 September 2014:

The Daily Examiner 10 September 2014:

Clarence Valley Council works and civil director Troy Anderson said if people had concerns about water quality or appearance in Yamba in recent weeks, they hadn't let the council know.

"The last dirty water report we received from Yamba was on August 1 - more than five weeks ago," he said.

"Because our water supply is not filtered, council has historically averaged three to four reports of dirty or discoloured water each week."

Mr Anderson said the council had received four reports of bad water quality in the past seven days, but none from Yamba.

"Council staff will respond to reports of dirty or discoloured water, and people can be assured there are no health risks associated with drinking the water," Mr Anderson said.

Online comments from Yamba residents:

* What I don't understand is the random nature of the "brown" water coming through my taps - one minute it's pure and clean and the next it's filthy. Also the problem seems to be far more prevalent in West Yamba than on the hill.
Bottom line is no way am I drinking it, this is NOT (yet) a 3rd world country! Surely council isn't that cash-strapped that they can't spend some money on finding and fixing whatever is the problem, if not can I suggest all the staff working on water quality/control be retrenched as they're doing nothing for their pay and ratepayers would love to see their rates reduced….

Show me another coastal city where random dirty water is delivered and considered acceptable? That's not a reasonable service to ratepayers IMO, would you happily pay for dirty wine (or water) in a restaurant, of course not, you'd vote with your feet. It's no different here except we have no real choice of supplier - we're getting a very inferior product and we're still paying top dollar. It's not good enough, if our very good (?) staff are unable to fix things find someone who can.

* I agree we had clean untainted water. So many visitors commented on how good it was to drink. Lately though it seems the water is either discoloured or tasting strongly of chemicals ? chlorine/bleach. CVC does need to look closely at this issue.

* Why has council not notified the public of this ? The statement of water coming from Shannon Creek Dam is the issue seems false as Coffs Harbours water is fine. Plenty of towns out west have dirty water supply however provide safe clean tap drinking water. Council has a duty of care to its rate payers and the public, which they have failed. Its not only dirty water but lots of sediment as well. Councilors and Council management the people of the Clarence Valley are not idiots so please dont treat us like one.

A September 2014 complaint by a Yamba resident about water quality elicited these responses from three of the nine Clarence Valley councillors:

* [I] note that the water this morning is discoloured.

* The problem needs to be fixed.  Water supply is one of Council’s core responsibilities.

* Please be aware of my personal embarrassment at association with the organisational inability to do whatever is required to correct the water failure. My embarrassment is even more acute when I know the secret decisions of this week demonstrating what is more important than your water failure.

Clarence Valley Council management’s position on discoloured or dirty water:

Council’s weekly water testing has indicated that, despite the dirty water reports, there has been no microbiological contamination and consequently the dirty water is not considered to pose a risk to health….Council has staff “on call” 24 hours, who can respond to complaints of dirty water by flushing water mains. However, some issues with dirty water can also occur on the customer’s side of the meter; particularly in houses with older galvanised pipes. Mains flushing will not address dirty water on the customer’s side of the water meter. [Clarence Valley Council media release, 26 February 2014]

The construction of a filtration plant cannot guarantee a clear water supply at the customer’s tap, although it would reduce the incidence of dirty and discoloured water occurring. As outlined in the report on water quality to the 18 February 2014 Council meeting, discoloured water is generally associated with decomposing natural organic matter and dirty water may be caused either by sediment in the water settling out, natural microorganisms in the pipes and corrosion of pipes and fittings. While a water filtration plant would address the issues of organic matter and sediment, natural microorganism growth (from organisms already in the reticulation system) and corrosion of pipes and fittings could still occur. Both organism growth and corrosion of pipes and fittings significantly increase during high water temperatures (above about 25 degrees), and during the 2013/14 summer Council has experienced several months where the water temperature has been above 25 degrees. The construction of a water filtration plant would not reduce water temperature. [Clarence Valley Council ordinary monthly meeting minutes, 15 April 2014]

Your “on going formal complaint” is noted but Council staff can only respond to specific reports of dirty water… [Clarence Valley Council Water Cycle Manager, 18 September 2014]

As of today I have only heard of one instance where council responded to a 2014 Yamba water complaint - by flushing a street water pipe in the vicinity of Cox and Golding streets.

If North Coast Voices readers know of any other times council has done something practical about a Lower Clarence resident's water complaint, please let me know via the comment button below.

Note: All photographs found at The Daily Examiner 

UPDATE

Photograph of a Yamba household water filter taken at 7.45pm on 18 September 2014:

On 22 September I was informed by a home-owner living on Yamba Road that council had also flushed water pipes in their vicinity in response to a water complaint.

Yes, Virginia, methane and other pollutants do enter water supplies as a result of drilling gas wells

Wall Street Journal 28 August 2014:

Records on the 243 U.S. cases can be found here.

This is a  specific instance where the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sets out the risks of beyond saturation-level methane contamination to one household:

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sets out the risks of methane contamination to one hous... by clarencegirl

Even without the risk of serious water contamination, it is obvious that Australian authorities recognize that coal seam/tight/natural gas mining/production poses risks to nearby residential properties, because emergency services were called out at the beginning to the week to attend what was obviously the emergency venting of explosive gases from a coal seam gas well at the AGL Camden Gas Project 144 well field in the immediate vicinity of a housing estate.

Watching the weather with bated breath......

Photograph: Queensland Country Life 24 January 2014

The Sydney Morning Herald 17 June 2014:

The world’s meteorologists and climate experts are watching closely for another burst of westerly winds across the Pacific that could trigger the first El Nino weather pattern since 2009-2010.

“Basically it is primed for a strong El Nino, but it needs the final push,” said Axel Timmermann, the professor of oceanography at the international Pacific research centre, University of Hawaii. “This is perhaps the most-watched El Nino of all time.”

The weather watch comes as winter remains largely at bay for much of Australia. Sydney and Melbourne broke heat records during autumn and maximums in both cities have been about 2-3 degrees above average for June.

This week, Sydney can expect tops most days of 20-22 degrees, or about 3-5 degrees above normal, while Melbourne's maximums will be 1-2 degrees above the June average of 14 degrees, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

An El Nino could make this year another warm one for Australia. Last year was the country's warmest in more than a century of records.

El Ninos form when waters in the eastern Pacific turn unusually warm compared with the west, stalling or reversing the easterly trade winds. The pattern is a major driver of the world’s climate and can trigger droughts and bushfires in Australia and east Asia, while bringing heavy rains to countries bordering the eastern Pacific……

National Climate Centre Drought Statement 4 June 2014

The Guardian discovers the Battle for Bentley

The Guardian 10 April 2014:

Bentley farmers who support the movement against mining, from left, Robert Lowrey, Peter Neilson, Colin Thomas and Charles Wilkinson. Photograph: David Lowe

There is a strange political alliance building in this country, one that governments and major parties will do well to consider.

It is the alliance between farmers and the environmental movement on land use issues around coal seam gas and mining.

It has the capacity to change the political landscape in rural Australia and leave a scar as gaping as an open-cut mine on the (predominant) Coalition support.

In rural towns, farmers are joining fellow community members, environmentalists and, yes, the hippy fringe to stop developments of coal and unconventional gas extraction in their neighbourhood. The hot spots are around Bentley, the Pilliga, Gloucester in New South Wales and the Coonawarra in South Australia.

It has become clear the opposition is not coming just from a tie-dyed fringe but also includes very conservative people who do not join the political fray easily. Farmers are now chaining themselves to mining equipment to make their point, a tactic associated by farmers in the past with the “feral” end of the green movement....

Consider the story of one farmer, one of many, who has decided to speak out. Robert Lowrey lives at Bentley in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, upstream of Metgasco’s gas exploration on a farm belonging to a near neighbour Peter Graham, a former Lismore councillor and National party member.

Lowrey’s father, the elegantly-named Dunbar Lowrey, was chairman of the Bentley National party branch. Robert Lowrey and his wife, Nanette, have the family farm that transitioned from dairy to cattle during deregulation. He describes the farming community around the town as extreme conservatives, “old school” farmers who are reluctant to take a stand.

Yet he has joined up with a friend and fellow farmer Tony Davis to write a letter to the local paper. Davis initially agreed to have a test well on his place, based on Metgasco’s claim the gas would be used for a power plant for Casino. However, once he discovered larger plans, including plans for export, he backed out…..

“When we first heard about the gas, it was about a few wells, a power station for Casino and long-term jobs,” the letter says. “Some of us accepted, even welcomed, test wells on our properties.

“Now we hear about hundreds of wells, pipelines over the ranges, fracking, suspicious chemicals ruined farms, polluted waters and valleys destroyed. Could our valley end up looking like an industrial wasteland? This makes us worry about a lot of things.

“We are worried about the Graham family. They have been our fellow farmers, workmates and friends for decades. Their farm may be the centre of the dispute, but it could easily be one of ours. They need our support, they do not deserve abuse.

“The drilling must stop, the risks are too great. We only have one chance and, if it goes wrong, it is our children, not the mining company, who will bear the consequences.”

Lowrey’s argument is there is no need for gas in the region, given the area’s “good fortune” that provides an environment for clean food production and tourism. Gas extraction development will be such a shame, he says, especially given the Northern Co-operative Meat Company has just started certifying grass-fed beef and the company is “just 10 miles away from the dirty thing”. The closest large town to Bentley is Casino, which markets itself as the beef capital of Australia…..

In some ways the anti-mining campaign has the hallmarks of any big power battle. Governments and large companies came into small communities offering jobs and riches. Football teams were sponsored. Social compacts were made. Then when resistance was met, they tried shouting, which only made things worse. Lowrey says former New South Wales Liberal minister Chris Hartcher came to town for a public meeting.

“Chris Hartcher told us we were anarchists trying to wreck the state’s economy,” Lowrey says. “Nanette was angry. I would just say this household’s personal response is we have been contributing to the economy for 150 years.

“We don’t consider ourselves an elite group. We are just here doing what we set out to do over 100 years ago.”

Just this week, another New South Wales government representative came to town to test farmers’ knowledge, to check they were not reading silly fear mongering on social media.

“I don’t even know how to turn a computer on,” Lowrey says. “I can read Joseph Conrad but not a computer manual. I assured them I was not swayed by social media.”….

The kicker in the story is what this episode has done to political support. Of the farmers and smaller block owners I’ve spoken to, all were National party voters. All say they will be looking to shift their vote elsewhere. They feel like they have been betrayed after many years of support. Lowrey’s response is typical. His father was proud to have a visit from National party leader Sir Earle Page in his little Bentley branch. Now the son has forsaken the party. All parties.

“The political process is being broken down by nepotism and other interests able to bring to bear power through lobbyists, large amounts of money and very persuasive argument,” he says. “As our system becomes more dependent on money, it becomes vulnerable.

“I am sick of parliamentarians taking material they had access to as ministers and peddling it, taking up positions in industry.”

He names former Labor federal resources minister Martin Ferguson, now a director of British Gas, and former National party leaders John Anderson, a former chairman of Eastern Star Gas, and Mark Vaile, who is on the board of Whitehaven Coal.

“It’s moving people away from conservative ordinary politics and interest in National party [here] is waning,” said Lowrey. “People are weighing up alternative parties. Some, quite a few, are going to the Greens.”

They may not move their vote. As a National party MP said to farmers in the Pilliga: “Who else are you going to vote for?” But what is clear from this debate is it will not get easier for governments or mining companies.

For there is nothing so stubborn as a farmer.

A Northern Rivers' water authority does not want Metgasco & Dart gas exploration in areas it intends to source future water supplies

Echo NetDaily 25 March 2014:

Rous Water has called on the state government to prevent gas exploration in areas it is planning to explore for underground water sources.

The county council, which supplies Lismore, Ballina, Richmond Valley and Byron LGAs, has identified subterranean water in its future water strategy as the best and most cost-effective source to meet its increased needs in the coming decades.

But the recent pollution of aquifers in the Pilliga by Santos mining with uranium and a number of heavy metals has triggered serious concerns among the board at the prospect of something similar happening in the northern rivers.

At its most recent board meeting Rous Water unanimously passed a motion that the NSW government and all the relevant state members of parliament be informed of the specific areas Rous Water has identified as potential future water sources for region.

‘The motion requested that the government not approve any exploratory or production gas wells in the vicinity of those areas under investigation until such time as Rous Water’s future water strategy is fully determined,’ said one board member, Lismore councillor Simon Clough.

There are two petroleum exploration licences (PELs) – 16 (Metgasco) and 445 (Dart) – where drilling activity could adversely affect Rous’s future water strategy…

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