Regarding groundwater contamination (Echo, May 24), for a period of some 30 plus years I have been trying to have something positive done to protect our groundwater.
I have written to state and federal government departments e.g. Department of Agriculture, EPA, Department of Water, Agriculture, and local government regarding contamination to no avail. Now there is a panic about ‘forever chemicals’ (3M) to the fore!
What about all the other chemicals – Agent Orange, DDT, Deildrin, Roundup, arsenic (from sheep/cattle dip sites) which we have used for the last 100 years? We just hope nature has cleaned these up before hitting our aquifers.
It takes between 100 and 300 years for rain to reload aquifers, some of these chemicals have only just hit the water table.
When addressing the NSW Chief Scientist’s panel it was shown there is very little knowledge or information on groundwater research. At least the general public assisted us in having water mining/bottling banned in Ballina Shire.
Aquifers run between states and countries, so this is a world problem. They say you cannot live without love, trying living without water.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
