Privatised water – it stinks

Through the Autumn of 1997, Adelaide residents were holding their noses. A nasty smell set in for three months to become known as Adelaide’s ‘big pong’.

It emerged the pong had been caused by a major breakdown at a major Adelaide sewage plant. The treatment lagoons were overflowing and the systems in place for breaking down the city’s raw sewage weren’t working.

Adelaide residents suffered nausea and respiratory problems. Businesses suffered as people stayed home.

South Australia’s water and sewage services had been privatised the previous year and were being run by an international consortium United Water led by French water giant Veolia.

It emerged the plant had not been properly serviced and that massive staff cuts – the work force was halved after privatisation – severely impacted maintenance.

Fast forward to 2009, Veolia is now the sole shareholder in United Water and is being sued by the South Australian Government for massively overcharging taxpayers for its services, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Adelaide is a reminder of how badly things can go wrong when we entrust our essential services to private companies motivated by cutting costs and boosting profits.

Here in NSW, we are facing privatisation by stealth.

NSW’s major water utility, Sydney Water, is outsourcing more and more functions like construction and maintenance, meter reading and IT.

The ASU has fought hard to ensure contractors have to meet the same high standards around industry and public safety, environmental impact and water quality.

Sydney Water is working just as hard to remove existing requirements around standards and consultation.

We are most concerned about the water assets built and operated privately, as they directly impact water quality.

Consortia led by Veolia operate two water filtration plants in Sydney and will build and operate Sydney’s new desalination plant.

Adelaide’s ‘big pong’ is just one of the black marks against Veolia, which has operations across the globe.

• Veolia subsidiaries have been involved in environmental scandals and prosecuted for environmental breaches.

• Water supply contracts between Veolia and governments have come unstuck due to excessive price hikes and poor service.

• Veolia executives have been convicted of bribery and fraud and accused of falsifying water quality statements.

Water is our most essential service. It must be managed and delivered efficiently in a way that benefits people and the environment.

The best way to ensure NSW’s supply of clean, safe drinking water into the future is to keep water in public hands.

Sally McManus
Branch Secretary,
Australian Services Union