A new group opposing water mining in the Tweed Shire breathed its first fire last week
The road between Murwillumbah and Uki was sign-bombed by members of the direct-action group the Water Dragons before first light this morning.
Led by activists working behind the scenes, the Water Dragons painted more than 100 signs opposing water mining in the Tweed catchment and posted them all to everyone know their message loud and clear.
Spokesperson for the group Juliet Green, said they have had enough. ‘The Water Dragons was formed to start a direct action campaign to stop this industry.
‘It has been decimating groundwater while we are in drought.
‘This is just the start of a direct action campaign. We are putting the water miners, the Tweed Shire Council and the NSW State Government on notice.
Ms Green said the industry will be one of the key issues in the upcoming council election next year.
Activist group Tweed Water Alliance supported the action. Spokesperson Pat Miller said the TWA support the Water Dragons. ‘It’s heartening to see other groups forming in response to this industry,’ she said. ‘The writing was always on the wall for them and now other groups such as this are doing the writing for us.
‘We’re suddenly not alone. We will support them because the community opposition is huge. The TWA will continue the political lobbying and we wish the group well in their non-violent direct action.’
The Tweed Water Alliance’s sign claiming 99% of Uki residents oppose water mining has been reinstalled at the eastern entrance to Uki village. ’Removed on the basis of one complaint, the edited sign now complies with the Tweed Shire Council’s demands.’
We r in a drought all the creeks have dried up every were not just in the you area this water is important to all Australian don’t be so narrow minded water is going to all Australian not just to afew twa asked for a independent studie of the water an they got one but people still won’t listen once again if there was no demand for the water it would not be there u can only survive 3 days with out water wake up to your self SUPPORT this small industry
Water extractor s have licences they r legally allowed to to there work
I agree 100%. It has to stop. Why do our so called leaders not see this? MONEY??? Our country is very quickly turning into a dried up bowl of dust. You must wake up before we have no where to grow our precious crops and feed our world class stock. You must have children and grandchildren that this is effecting now and will continue to do so if you don’t STOP this insane act of sucking our water table dry.
Expedential exploitation of a finite system results in collapse of that system. The Chief Scientist report, pointed out there is connectivity between ground water and above ground water systems. The Water Dragons are pointing out that the water taken out by Water Miners is removed from those system for ever! A few unthinking people recieve a financial benefit from a resource that belongs to all It is taken from under a World Heritage Rainforest. The whole Shire pays for what is not an essential industry to opperate. You can get the same water from the tap. This is an industry that has only negative effects on the environment.
Your collective points require clarification.
I represent one of the four water supply operators in the Valley since 2007 and despite numerous inaccurate public statements on our supply and requests to correct same, l would advise the following:
1: we have never exceeded our annual extraction limit since commencing the supply – mostly around 60% only of the DA amount;
2: our financial accounts, trucking, water coy and banking records confirm same;
3: we have long operated separate water monitoring and sustainability measuring and have shown NSW Water, and the NSW chief scientist that on average our bores fully recover to the pre standing water level in around 15 minutes even during these drought times; and have records since 2015 to prove same;
4: we cannot comment on the operations of the other parties but would only state if the alleged volumes extracted were doubled for Exx – the total water take would only be around 2% of the available water source. One wonders the volumes taken and sustainability basis for all users?
5: if the analysis is to be fair, then all persons accessing the available water should be subject to proper monitoring and sustainability practices. Surely this is the same as the public requests being made for the Murray River users as per the ABC and other public interest groups?
6: This can actually occur at a minimal cost and provide the information base needed for this valuable resource. We will be making a submission re same in 2020;
6: whilst we consider the use of plastic bottles as undesirable, we know from the numerous bores we have drilled, that all water is not of the same quality – there is a clear need for bottled water based on consumer preferences and for travel needs, and a sizeable portion is actually sold in bulk containers.
This whole issue would benefit from a balanced approach.