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The Centennial Coal plan to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s water catchment every day

MEDIA RELEASE 
31 January 2025 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental organisation, is calling on the State government to reject Centennial Coal’s proposal to dump millions of litres of toxic wastewater into Sydney’s drinking water catchment.  

The proposal was submitted to the Department of Planning earlier this month, outlining the company’s plans to discharge up to 42 ML of wastewater every day into Thompsons Creek Reservoir. Thompsons Creek Reservoir is a popular fishing spot and outflows through the Blue Mountains World Heritage area and into Warragamba Dam. 

 Centennial mining operations are adjacent to the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area, a place with 80 rare and threatened species and 16 threatened ecological communities. Intensive mining methods have destroyed aquifers, resulting in drying out of endangered upland peat swamps. 

“Centennial’s water issue is a crisis of their own making, resulting from damaging aquifers in their underground mining operations. Now they want to pollute World Heritage streams and force the people of Greater Sydney to drink the mess,” said NCC Senior Climate Campaigner Jacqui Mills. 

“The water that Centennial wants to offload is laced with heavy metals and brine. 

“Sydneysiders are lucky to drink some of the most pristine water in the world, thanks to the beautiful forests of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area that filter our water. 

“We can’t let desperate mining companies like Centennial use our drinking water as a dumping ground.  

"We know this application is the tip of the iceberg, and the enormity of this environmental disaster will slowly be revealed as Centennial plans to discharge polluted water from its currently flooded mine and disrupts more groundwater resources with continued mining." 

“Centennial’s destructive mining has damaged groundwater flows under the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area bordering the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, resulting in massive water inflows into underground mines.   

“They are manufacturing a crisis moment with excess water not able to be sent to the Mount Piper power station for use in cooling towers whilst the station is offline for periods this year.   

“The real issue here is that Centennial Coal has not adopted technology to clean the wastewater of heavy metals and salt toxic to aquatic life in this sensitive area. 

“Instead, they intend to dilute dirty water with treated water prior to discharge to the dam. Experts have warned this approach would exacerbate pollution load. It’s simply not good enough.  

“The Independent Planning Commission must refuse permission, and the NSW Environment Protection Agency must do what it takes to make Centennial clean up its act.  

“We urgently need a public inquiry into the damaging mine wastewater from Centennial’s underground coal mines in the Gardens of Stone region.” 

ENDS 

Media contact: Anna Greer  
E: [email protected] M: 0493 733 529 PH: (02) 7208 9482   

Note: Jacqui Mills and Australia’s leading expert on water pollution, Dr Ian Wright are available for comment on request.  

BACKGROUND 

  • Centennial Coal outlines its plans for discharging up to 42ML/day of water into Thompsons Creek Reservoir as part of a proposal to the Department of Planning submitted in January 2025. As much as 24ML/day of this would be untreated water. Currently Centennial Coal is sending water to be used in Mount Piper Power Station’s cooling towers. This new proposal would be for discharging the water when EnergyAustralia’s Mount Piper coal-fired power station and the water treatment plant are offline for scheduled maintenance, for the life of the water treatment plant. 
  • The company plans to dilute the water. Water experts have previously warned that blending or dilution of dirty water with treated water will exacerbate, rather than address, pollution of the Sydney drinking water catchment.  
  • Centennial has a bad environmental track record. Over a 23-year period, Centennial has been found to have breached its environmental licence more than 1400 times across 7 coal mine sites in the Greater Blue Mountains region. 
  • This includes a Centennial Clarence coal mine spill into the World Heritage area that resulted in the single largest fine ever imposed by the EPA at that time (2017), totalling $1,050,000. In addition, a $1,450,000 fine was imposed on Centennial Springvale and Angus Place collieries in 2011, the largest issued under section 486DA the Commonwealth EPBC Act 1999 at the time. 

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