by Dr Charles Essery, Sydney Morning Herald, 15/2/2006.

Dr Charles Essery, an adjunct professor at the University of Western Sydney, was a senior executive to the NSW Government on town water treatment and recycling and water policy and reform from 1999 to 2003. 

"OVER the past three years, Sydney's water "crisis" has been prominent in the minds of Sydneysiders. And, not surprisingly, advocates have been peddling their particular agendas - environmental, political, technical or commercial. . . ."

The State Government’s Sydney Metropolitan Plan is very big on short-term strategies. Placing a heavy reliance during the current drought on transferring water from the Shoalhaven River is just one of them!

Sydney is running out of water and the NSW Government’s ‘panic’ plan to pump 15 billion litres of water from the Kangaloon Aquifer in the Southern Highlands to provide Sydney with a paltry 7 days supply is a last ditch attempt to allay fears among the urban population about water shortages before the election – the plan speaks volumes about the Government’s water planning and management over the last 12 years.

Never before has the extraction of 45 billion litres of water been attempted on an aquifer with the geological characteristics that exist at Kangaloon with so little scientific study.

By far the most destructive emergency water strategy the Premier, Mr Iemma, has authorised is the extraction of 45 billion litres of water over 3 years from the Kangaloon Aquifer in the Southern Highlands.

The Save Water Alliance agrees with the Upper Nepean Groundwater Community Reference Group (UNGCRG) that more research must be conducted into the effects of mining the Southern Highlands aquifer at Kangaloon.