NSW: Expensive lesson shows water can t be taken for granted

AAP General News (Australia)
12-28-1998
NSW: Expensive lesson shows water can t be taken for granted

By Catharine Munro

SYDNEY, AAP - An expensive, inconvenient and potentially dangerous biology lesson for
Sydney residents in 1998 showed many Australians they could not take clean drinking water for
granted.

For people in Australia's biggest city the names of two parasites, cryptosporidium and
giardia, now evoke tedious memories of waiting for water to boil and cool down, or even buying
bottled water, after the Health Department warned tap water was contaminated.

But, ironically, it may be the state opposition that has suffered more political damage
than the government ahead of the March election.

For those who managed to ignore the blanket media coverage, Sydney underwent a public
health scare from late July until September, when officials found the two parasites in the
city's drinking supply.

According to the panic merchants, Sydney had become "the Calcutta of the southern
hemisphere" and many residents were completely confused.

But the fact was that for the elderly and people with low immunity, such as AIDS sufferers,
the bugs could be fatal.

Grasping for an explanation, Labor Premier Bob Carr launched an inquiry on July 30, the day
the health warning was issued to all Sydney residents.

"It's the subject of an inquiry," became the standard response from the government to
unwanted questions about the scare.

The strategy was extremely effective, so much so that the then state opposition leader
Peter Collins may have fared worse from the incident than the Premier.

Mr Collins' inability to attach blame to the government increased the belief that he could
not launch a sustained political attack.

This was one reason the opposition adopted the risky strategy of toppling its leader just
over three months before an election.

By late August it was clear Sydney Water and the state government were facing a crisis
because the situation appeared just as hopeless as it was in late July.

A second boil-water alert had not been lifted and the government resorted to experts from
the United States and Britain.

By early September, the problem appeared insurmountable, with a third instruction to boil
water, this time for two weeks, issued the day after the second alert was dropped.

As the weeks rolled on, bottled water sales skyrocketed.

Coca Cola Amatil (CCA) reported a doubling in sales of bottled water during the boil-water
alerts and sales have stayed up 30 per cent since they were lifted.

"The unexpected outcome for (brands) Mount Franklin and Deep Spring was that sales went up
in other states," CCA spokesman Ian Brown said.

While the saga was a boon for CCA, other businesses suffered, such as coffee shops who
could not sell cappuccinos and fishmongers who had to wash their stock in bottled water.

Sydney Water has agreed to a multi-million dollar scheme to compensate businesses which
suffered financial loss after about 350 of them took a class action to the Federal Court.

It has also lost control of Sydney's water catchments as a result of the government
inquiry.

But while more people may now be drinking mineral water, there was no reported increase in
illness resulting from the contamination scare.

In many ways it was very much a Sydney-style saga - the hype was far bigger than the
substance.

AAP cm/tsm/it/br

KEYWORD: YEARENDER WATER

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