Ms Keneally said that she had sought clarification from Sydney Water and she understood it was "human error" that caused the incorrect findings to be published.Read more.
However, NSW Shadow Minister for Natural Resource Management, Katrina Hodgkinson said the confession of errors in the reporting process should prompt an independent contamination review of both inputs and outputs from the Kurnell Desalination Plant.
"The Keneally Labor government has an appalling track record, and to now simply come out and say 'I'm sorry about this, it's all okay and must have been human error' is just not acceptable and from this Government, not really believable," Ms Hodgkinson said.
"Most appalling is the admission that they haven't even been testing the seawater inputs and desalinated outputs from the desalination plant for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, because they claim these pathogens cannot survive in seawater," she said.
Keneally insists the water is safe.
Well, of course, it appears that the watchdog has ditched 'unrealistic' E.coli zero-tolerance target on water quality... read it here.
A little reading:
We won't build dams because of misplaced environmental concerns, so instead we are reduced to drinking our own sewage. Welcome to the absurdity of Australia's headlong rush into desalination, with Melbourne'sContinue reading Miranda Devine.
$3 billion mammoth Wonthaggi plant due to open next year, just as the skies open, and another brand new plant on the Gold Coast remains mothballed for - you wont believe it - rust!
We won't build dams because of misplaced environmental concerns, so instead we are reduced to drinking our own sewage. Welcome to the absurdity of Australia's headlong rush into desalination, with Melbourne's $3 billion mammoth Wonthaggi plant due to open next year, just as the skies open, and another brand new plant on the Gold Coast remains mothballed for - you wont believe it - rust!
7:30 Report - Murky waters...
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: A call to tighten the health standard for drinking water in Australia has been rejected by water suppliers, who argue this country already has the safest water in the world.(I think Matt Peacock's got it arse about there, they want to loosen the drinking water standard... how long until there isn't one?) Read the interview/report here.
But a leading expert on infectious diseases claims the public has a right to be 100 per cent sure that there are no bugs in its water and the need for tighter scrutiny is even greater if water has been recycled or contaminated by sewage.
By next year, two of the country's desalination plants will be ingesting seawater within three kilometres of sewage outlets.
Matt Peacock reports.
MATT PEACOCK, REPORTER: Australia's one of the few countries in the world where it's still safe to drink water out of a tap. But now there's a dispute about whether our drinking water standard should be tightened.
Desal plant not protected from E.coliWho knew?
Australia, November 12 - Desalination plants built near sewage outfalls are not protected by the natural purification that occurs in dams.
Read more here.
