Local people in the Menangle Park area have contacted Lock the Gate with serious concerns about more than six CSG wells that have been submerged in floodwaters, south-west of Sydney, in areas adjoining the Nepean River, and CSG water tanks and containers that have been transported by flood waters and upended.
Dan Robins, from Lock the Gate Alliance, has been out on site over the past two days and witnessed first hand the flooding and upended waste water tanks
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Lock the Gate is calling on the NSW EPA to urgently investigate the contamination risk posed to nearby residents, the adjoining Nepean River nearby creeks and waterways.
“We believe that there is a high risk that untreated waste water from AGL’s Camden CSG wells has been dumped into the Nepean River during the flooding, as tanks have been upended.
“According to AGL’s own water monitoring data, the waste water they produce from the Camden gasfield is extremely salty and also contains pollutants like barium and boron.
“This looks like a pollution event that never should have happened, and we don’t believe AGL has any licence or authority which allows it to pollute the Nepean River, so we are calling for urgent action from the EPA to investigate.
“AGL need to immediately advise how much wastewater has been released into the Nepean River, and provide full disclosure on the contaminants it contains.
“People in the Menangle Park area have repeatedly raised concerns about AGL’s CSG wells in floodwaters near Sydney in areas adjoining the Nepean River, and the real risk that poses to our water.
“CSG and unconventional gas should not operate in important water sources - it should be banned from floodplains and water catchments - and all nationally significant water sources should be fully protected.
“Mining on floodplains is a crazy idea, and it should never have been allowed, the risk to water just isn’t worth it.
“AGL should display some corporate responsibility and shut-down these wells immediately, rather than continuing to risk NSW water.
“It is because of these serious risks to water that unconventional gas is a major federal election issue across Australia, from south-west Western Australia to South Australia and along the eastern seaboard.
“This is exactly why CSG should not go ahead on the Liverpool Plains or in the recharge zone of the Great Artesian Basin,” said Mr Robins.
