<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/20/perth-water-supply-risk-alcoa-bauxite-mining>
"Alcoa’s plan to vastly expand its strip mining of forest near Perth’s dams
poses a high risk to the water supply for the city’s 2.3 million people,
according to global engineering consultancy GHD.
The US aluminium producer commissioned the detailed analysis as part of its bid
for approval to mine an additional 67 sq km of jarrah forest for bauxite – the
source material for aluminium.
GHD identified 22 pathways for Alcoa’s mining to contaminate dams inland of
Perth and concluded that all but one of them presented a high risk.
The triple threats to the water supply are contamination of the dams by
pathogens from sewage, hydrocarbons from oil spills (both from Alcoa’s mining)
or simply excessive soil washing into the dam, which makes the water unclear,
rendering water treatment plants ineffective.
Extensive reporting has documented how Alcoa’s wholesale clearing of the forest
and tardy rehabilitation after mining have increased the open area at risk of
significant runoff, while its preventive drainage works have a history of
frequent failures.
The GHD study of Alcoa’s expansion reinforces concerns of the state-owned Water
Corporation, which regards contamination of its reservoirs from Alcoa’s current
mining as certain.
The utility faces a bill of $3.25bn if it has to upgrade water treatment plants
for all dams where Alcoa is now mining.
If the crucial Serpentine Pipehead dam is contaminated, more than 100,000
households could be consuming contaminated water within six hours. Within
weeks, Perth and Western Australia’s South West could face water restrictions.
The WA Forest Alliance director, Jess Boyce, said the study showed there should
be an immediate ban on mining in reservoir protection zones, which extend 2km
around dams, and a complete phase-out of mining in water catchments over the
next few years.
“This move would not only protect critical drinking water supplies for WA but
also strong forest habitat for threatened plants and animals, including black
cockatoos and quokkas, all of which are suffering in a changing climate,” she
said."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
