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OCU campaign 2021

OCU put on hold

There has been a dramatic development in relation to Sydney Water’s Proposed Odour Control Unit in the Wolli Creek Valley. After a frequently extended consultation period and further review, Sydney Water had narrowed the choice down to three options (see the February Wolli Creek Update) with the choice between the three to be further informed via a workshop with stakeholders on March 24.

But on 23 March we were informed that the workshop had been cancelled and the whole project ‘put on hold’ on technical grounds. New information means that an extra element will be needed at the OCU and the Unwin St sites are space constrained and probably can’t fit it in without a cost blow-out.

It also seems that without the delays occasioned by WCPS arguments, counterproposals, and questions, backed by the support of the 5,000 signatories on our petition, the OCU might have been built by now, only to be found ‘not fit for purpose’ with all sorts of costly consequences. Anyway, this is a sort of success, but one qualified by a recognition that the odour and corrosion problems the OCU was to solve still exist and that, in principle at least, the OCU has not completely gone away, but only put on hold for 6-8 months.

OCU Petition tops 5,000; now closing

We reached our 5,000th signature on Sunday 14/11.21. The petition will be taken down this week as we are about to enter a new phase of the OCU process. Our thanks go to all those who have signed to oppose the OCU location proposed by Sydney Water.

We promptly wrote to the Minister to report the 5,000 and pointed out that they are almost all of them Sydney Water customers. See the WCPS Letter to Pavey 211115 re the 5,000 signatures.

Watch this inspiring slide show of the Wolli Creek Valley

During these difficult times in Sydney with a Covid lockdown limiting our ability to go far from home, contact with nature is something that can help us get through the stress and isolation.

So the Wolli Creek Regional Park has become an even more important area for the many residents who are lucky to live in its catchment. This great slideshow from Dave Noble showcases the natural wonder of the Wolli Valley Wolli Creek Regional Park Slide Show 4KYouTube · David Noble

We hope you enjoy it.

OCU Latest (Sept. 30, 2021)

Petition now at 4,811. Our final target is 5,000. To join the final push, go to

https://www.nature.org.au/get-involved/take-action/save-wolli-creek-regional-park/

Sydney Water is now claiming that they have a new option that ‘alleviates all the concerns that have been raised’. But they have failed to disclose what and where their new option is and what and whose concerns are being ‘alleviated’.

Nor have they been prepared to discuss what criteria they intend to use in the assessment (they’ve basically ignored the ones that we have proposed) or why the fresh assessment process proposed is different from the one that led to their original poor choice of location.

We were seeing little encouragement to continue with a good faith engagement with the process as currently proposed and told them so (Sept 5). They regretted that, so (Sept 10), we suggested three things they could do to restore some confidence:

  • Engage all accepted stakeholders in discussions now, rather than trying to deal with all issues in a single workshop

  • Provide some answers to our questions about the criteria to be used

  • Give a broad outline of what their new proposal is and how it  ‘alleviates’concerns.

Sydney Water has suspended communication, failing to respond or even acknowledge the WCPS email of Sept 10.

The state of play is that:

  • construction of the OCU has been put off until the second half of 2022

  • A new ‘multi-criteria analysis’ (MCA) is to be conducted assessing Sydney Water’s new option against our Option W

  • Workshops to set the assessment criteria etc will not be held until ‘late 2021’

  • The WCPS campaign continues.

OCU News (Sept.16, 2021)

The petition has now reached 4,780 signatures, and there is new action to take. See NEW ACTION below

WCPS has developed a new proposal re the OCU (OptionW)  This is set out here in a letter and main attachment to the Minister for Water and a subsequent media release For the other attachments referred to see

Sydney Water’s site comparison

WCPS Comments on site comparison

Spreadsheet of rankings

 Our Option W meets WCPS concerns and overcomes those that Sydney Water has told us about. The relative advantages of the SW option A and the WCPS option W are set out in Relative Advantages of A and W

Sydney Water is to include Option W in a new Multi-criteria Analysis of potential sites and involve WCPS in the MSA process. We have already sent in proposed criteria to be used in the MCA and weightings to be given them.

NEW ACTION 

Here is how you can show Sydney Water your support for Option W, see the Imfor guide

OCU petition delivered – 4000+ signatories.

Minister failed to respond to invitation to receive it in person on 13 May. Local MLAs accepted it and undertook to present to Minister. A glitch with the printout gave us 5,300 names, but with many multiples. With these removed 4,018. Currently 4061. We did performances of placard routine for 30 mins while this was going on. Video of rehearsal here. More images later.

Petition hits 4,000!

Signatures at 25/4/21 stand at 4,003. A measure of just how widely this seemingly local issue has support. Thanks to all who have signed and worked to spread the message.

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