The Tweed Water Alliance has launched a petition to stop B-Doubles being used to transport water through Murwillumbah.
Black Mount Pty. Ltd, a water carting company has recently applied to allow certain B-Doubles*.
And Tweed Shire Council’s traffic committee has recommended that the council permit the B-Doubles to pass through Murwillumbah via Kyogle Road and Riverview Drive.
‘Because of a trial period, these trucks currently travel through UKI village and Murwillumbah day and night,’ Tweed Water Alliance spokesman Pat Miller said.
‘This is so water miners can extract more and more groundwater from their property at Kunghur to be put in disposable plastic bottles for profit. There seems to be no monitoring process.
‘This increase in the size of trucks will have a harmful effect on our communities yet the Tweed Shire Council Traffic Committee recommended that B-Doubles be approved without any development application process or public consultation.
‘We’re ignored as usual
‘There has been no public process and no consideration of the rights of residents.’
Sign the online petition: https://www.change.org/p/tweed-shire-council-stop-water-mining-trucks-ruining-the-tweed-shire
* An earlier version of this story said that the application had been made ‘on behalf of’ Mount Warning Spring Water, however a spokesperson for that company has stated, ‘A permit application for extra weight (5 tonnes) was submitted by Black Mount Pty Ltd to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. This was NOT on behalf of Mount Warning Spring Water. Black Mount Pty Ltd is not a direct customer or supplier to Mount Warning Spring Water. Their freighting services are acquired directly from other companies’. Mount Warning Spring Water have also stated that ‘The document that was submitted by Black Mount Pty Ltd, requested the continuation for the already approved 19 metre trucks, and NOT 25 metre trucks as per your editorial. There was in fact no request for variation to the length of vehicles already approved to use the road. The only variation in the application was to request that they could carry an additional 5 tonnes in weight.’
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