LILYDALE’S DRINKING WATER SUPPLY UNDER THREAT
Bartlett Govt Must Intervene to Protect Residents
Kim Booth MP
Greens Forests Spokesperson and Member for Bass
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
For Comment: Ben Lohberger , Media Officer, 0428 510 641
The Tasmanian Greens today called on the Bartlett Government intervene to prevent the logging and conversion to plantation of the majority of a 220 acre forest block on Mountain Road , Lilydale, as the block includes critical water catchment areas for the Launceston water supply and is in fact just 100 metres upstream from the intake for Lilydale’s town water supply.
Greens Forests spokesperson and Member for Bass Kim Booth MP said Ben Lomond Water, who are the responsible drinking water authority in the region, need to clarify their role and responsibility in regards to water catchment management for Lilydale and Launceston, particularly given the ongoing contamination of drinking water supplies around Launceston by Triazine herbicides and other toxic chemicals used in plantation establishment and management.
Mr Booth also said that two thirds of the land proposed for logging lies within the Launceston City Council (LCC) Water Protection Zone, while 75 percent of the block is within the LCC Scenic Protection Zone.
“The Bartlett Government must intervene to protect the Lilydale drinking water supply by preventing the logging and plantation establishment that is planned for 186 Mountain Road Lilydale,” said Mr Booth.
“There have been 48 separate positive Triazine contamination test results in recent years from waterways that supply Launceston’s drinking water, and many of those contamination events are directly related to plantation establishment.”
“Logging forested blocks in water catchments seriously harms the long-term quality of the water supply, and that is before the chemicals associated with plantations enter the equation.”
“The people of Lilydale are well aware of the ongoing contamination of drinking water supplies via native forest logging and especially plantation establishment, and Ben Lomond Water needs to reveal what it will do about the imminent logging, burning and spraying that is about to occur just 100 metres upstream from Lilydale’s drinking water intake, and within Launceston’s Water Protection Zone.”
“Ben Lomond Water is responsible for supplying drinking water in the region and must come out and clarify its role in this debate.”
“The Bartlett Government must intervene to prevent the logging and plantation conversion of this crucial block of forest that lies inside Launceston’s Water Protection Zone and just 100 metres upstream from Lilydale’s drinking water intake,” said Mr Booth.
www.tas.greens.org.au
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