EDITORIAL
Water is life. Yet, once again, residents across large swathes of the Central Coast were told on Tuesday night to boil their drinking water due to potential contamination.
Although the alert, affecting thousands in Terrigal, North Avoca, Avoca Beach, Copacabana, MacMasters Beach, Picketts Valley, Erina, Erina Heights and Kincumber, was lifted less than 24 hours later, it raises a critical question: why are we still dealing with these issues?
This is not an isolated event.
The ongoing water monitoring program conducted by Central Coast Council and the EPA has, over the Summer, identified toxic PFAS in untreated water from the Ourimbah Creek catchment.
While authorities assure us that our drinking water meets Australian guidelines, the presence of contaminants in our catchments underscores the fragility of our water security.
Council said the Boil Water Alert issued on Tuesday was precautionary, triggered by the possible detection of E. coli in the Terrigal Reservoir Supply System.
Testing on Wednesday cleared the system of contamination.
While such alerts are necessary for public safety, they also highlight the systemic challenges facing water management on the Coast.
The complexity and scale of water quality monitoring, contamination response and infrastructure maintenance demand dedicated oversight and expertise.
This brings us to the elephant in the room: the role of water management in the financial collapse of the last Central Coast Council.
Mismanagement, funding shortfalls and bureaucratic entanglements contributed to a fiscal crisis that saw the Council placed under administration.
At the heart of this chaos was an overburdened system struggling to deliver essential services, including clean water.
It is time for a dedicated, independently run Central Coast Water Authority, not under the auspices of Council as at present.
A standalone entity, separate from the Council’s broader responsibilities, would have a clear mission: to secure our water supply and safeguard water quality.
Such a body would ensure long term investment in infrastructure, independent oversight, and a sharper focus on the health and well-being of our communities.
Water security is too vital to be lost in the mix of local and state government politics.
It’s time for a new approach, one that guarantees clean, safe drinking water for every Central Coast resident, now and into the future.
David Abrahams – Managing Editor
With all the hysteria surrounding contaminated water of late,it was great to see local authorities swift to identify and subsequently inform the public and residents of affected areas.With rapid population growth and general environmental toxicity that will accompany it, water purity has become a pressing issue as it is so vital for health and very much life itself.Stringent monitoring is the way to overcome potential issues before wider problems arise through any complacency.
Let us not forget the environmental damage caused by the mismanagement of sewer assets. Such as the sewer spill in Narara Creek that Council was fined by the EPA for recently.
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2025/01/council-convicted-over-narara-creek-sewage-leak/
It is worth noting that Council went completely the opposite direction to becoming an independent water authority and instead removed itself from the Water Management Act in 2024. and told the community it would be better for it…
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/08/simplifying-and-protecting-coasts-water-services/
Agree ! Councils are either going Broke or going into Administration under the certainly Noble Goal of supplying
Potable Drinking Water, Effective Sewage, and Adequate Roads, Footpaths, and Gutters with Ever-Expanding Populations. With Indulgence, I will dodge the question of Toxic PFAS and refer to the possible detection of E.Coli in
The Terrigal Reservoir System. Surely, The Public so effected and, indeed, The Public in general are entitled to some
Transparency here. How did E.coli get into The Terrigal Reservoir ? Where does the water come from to replenish The
Reservoir ? Is there any link here to The Stormwater System into which Sewage may have somehow leaked ? If so, from where ? Does The Water from Terrigal Reservoir go though some sort of a Treatment Process to, say, Disinfect
it ? With Indulgence again, could I digress onto Sewage itself ? What is The Treatment Process, if any, for, say, The Sewage Outlet at Crackneck Point, Bateau Bay ? Theoretically there are only Three ( 3 ) Treatment Processes,
“ Primary,” “ Secondary, “ and “ Disinfection, “ and only the preceding Three ( 3 ) are practised in total in Sydney
itself at The Warriewood Waste Water Treatment Plant directly off “ Turimetta Head “ which is similar to the procedure at Crackneck Point, Bateau Bay, logistically but obviously Crackneck Point, Bateau Bay is on a much, much smaller
scale. I would speculate that only one of the Three ( 3 ) possible treatments are practiced at Crackneck Point, Bateau
Bay, namely “ Primary Treatment, “ where The Solids, The Sediment, The Excrement if you like go to the Bottom and
The Liquid goes directly off The Point into The Sea. Is this “ Sediment “ subsequently removed, how is it removed,
and where does it go ? In conclusion I feel that some Transparency would be helpful to those in The Public who are not
Apathetic or Ambivalent to what I personally see as a Critical Issue. One Small Step, to be sure, but sometimes a Small
Step can be the start of much Bigger and Continuous Steps.
100% agree. Despite being under administration for all those years the existing management structure is largely unchanged and needs a complete review. we can’t blame the councillors for this- it was a breakdown of process and this ailment stretches right across council
In the early 70’s ever since then the EPA had you believing that they cared about the environment and human health how wrong was I to believe what they said. 4 years ago Penny Sharpe since she became director how wrong we all were about her xxxx
So what is being proposed? Privatisation of yet another essential service, because that’s worked out so well before (not)?
Increased development and population growth puts a huge strain on existing essential services – and the cracks are beginning to show.
Good one You start splitting essential services and you have a whole new highly paid administration eg Sydney water I get as does every rate payer a seperate water bill to my rates
Many years ago council rates were called water rates We seem to have managed all facets of services years ago Have we lost the ability or is the plan to ease into privatisation .Trying to remain positive but do not trust any forms of govt
After reading the article I’m not at all informed as to how an independent water authority would avoid such situations arising. Just sounds like an opportunity to bash the council for the sake of a news article.
My Central Coast house is not my main residence so I use very little water but I still get slugged $260 odd dollars every quarter. Apparently that’s okay because that’s how much it costs to provide me with those services whether I use $30 worth of water or $300.
Lucky you
Thank you to all the contributors, I’m glad that this has sparked such a good debate.
To be clear: The editorial does NOT suggest privatisation as a solution.
It suggests an independent water authority, much like the publically owned Sydney Water & Hunter Water, which are both statutory corporations owned by the New South Wales Government.
Managing Editor