Accountability needed for Qld water mining
Government squabbling over who has responsibility for water mining takes attention away from the fact a school in the Gold Coast hinterland has run dry, activists say.
Tamborine Mountain State School asked students to bring their own drinking water to class after its school bore ran dry last week.
Save Our Water-Tamborine Mountain's Craig Peters says this is indicative that there needs to be better monitoring of how much water is being extracted by companies including Coca-Cola.
"It is very sad that the Scenic Rim Regional Council and Queensland government are each blaming one another, and the casualty of accountability wars is actual accountability," he told AAP on Monday.
"They seem happy to let it get sucked into this black hole of non-accountability and the decimation to continue."
Coca-Cola Amatil, which owns the Mt Franklin brand, said last week it only purchases water from aquifers they know are sustainable.
A company spokesperson quoted a 2011 research study from QUT which highlighted the capability of sustainable water mining in the region.
However Mr Peters said the study has little validity now.
"That 2011 study was undertaken at a time of highest rainfall, and is far from the reality of now,' he said.
"Weather patterns have unquestionably changed, and what may possibly have been considered a sustainable industry at the time is most certainly not any longer."
