Despite Sydney’s water crisis easing, the controversial two billion dollar desalination plant is still being built in Kurnell. And residents say the plant is a nightmare, with constant noise and air pollution that has lowered their standard of living. Brendan Wong reports from Kurnell.

Silver beach Image: Brendan Wong.

Vibrations reached 6.8 millimetres per second on the Richter scale, cracks on walls and floors of houses, and vehicles parked on curbs outside covered in brown, crusty silt. This is not the aftermath of an earthquake. These are the daily effects for residents of Kurnell since work started on the construction of the controversial desalination plant.

Since the two billion dollar plant was first announced in July 2005, there has been considerable opposition. Recently, Premier Morris Iemma was at the centre of debate after the State Government rushed to start construction on the desalination plant, despite a promise to proceed only if dam levels fell below 30 per cent capacity. The Government wants the plant to drought-proof Sydney and avoid a future crisis with the water supply. Bob Walsh, the Chairman of the Sydney Alliance to Avert Desalination, says that water-saving and water-recycling will avoid the need for desalination and that Sydney has an average of 1200 millimetres of rainfall a year. With current dam levels reaching 70 per cent, Kurnell resident, Debra Boes called the desalination plant an expensive “big white elephant”.

Bye-bye waterfront views: the only views the Kurnell residents have is of the desalination construction site. Image: B. Wong.

In February and March this year, preparatory work started at Kurnell. At Silver Beach, a construction area of 50 by 100 metres in size was established to be used for microtunnelling activities. The pipeline, to be laid 10 metres below the surface, will pass from Silver Beach, along Dampier Street and through to Tasman Street. Sydney Water has assured residents that construction will cause them minimal disturbance.

But Ros Long, a resident on Tasman Street, lives directly next door to two enormous pile drivers to be used for sheet piling. “Sheet piling is a construction method required to build the pits for microtunnelling[1],” said Colin Judge, a spokesman for Sydney Water. “Sheet piling is commonly done using vibration.” Test drillings began in mid April but resulted in earthquake-like vibrations. Mrs Long said: “The whole house was jumping and the kettle was vibrating like tinny.” Safe ground vibration limits for avoiding damage to property is about five millimetres per second on the Richter scale but Mrs Long found that it reached up to 6.8 millimetres.

In a letter to residents, Sydney Water claimed that sheet piling would not cause structural damage to nearby homes. Mrs Long points to the cracks that have appeared on her brick and load bearing walls, veranda and garage floor. “Sydney Water claims that it is wear and tear and they are not taking the blame,” she said. “They just want to come and run over people. It doesn’t matter what anybody says.” Sydney Water immediately halted work after residents protested.

Monster trucks are used to sheet pile what was once a picturesque Silver Beach Image: B. Wong.

Pieter de Rooy, a member of the Desalination Project Liaison Group said the challenge for residents is proving that damage was caused by the desalination construction. It is a “grey area” of dispute between homeowners and Sydney Water. “It is up to owners to prove and Sydney Water to accept,” said Mr de Rooy. “To prove beyond doubt that damage has occurred will need considerable resources by the residents who will need to employ geotechnical engineers, structural engineers together with qualified building inspections.”

Residents on Prince Charles Parade where houses are directly in front of the Silver Beach construction area cited a list of negative effects on their lives. A sea defence rock face is being built to protect the construction site against waves but the 50 to 70 trucks hauling the rocks to the site each day drop their cargo causing massive vibrations. “Rocks falling out of trucks are between eight to ten metres high. Rocks weigh one to two tonnes each, causing what seem to be mini-earthquakes.” Mr de Rooy said.

Jan Curby, 63, another resident, said that Sydney Water has ignored the requests of residents to ensure that rocks do not crash down to the ground. “Yesterday afternoon, a truck let the rocks fall. The dressing table and everything vibrated,” she said.

Mrs Curby said the noise is unbearable and is not only caused by the truck movements but the full time street sweeper. This was introduced after residents complained about the soil and sand left behind on the road by trucks.

“The desalination plant has given us nothing but stress, heartache and it has changed our lifestyle,” said Mrs Curby, adding that she can no longer walk directly into the bay since Sydney Water fenced it off from residents for pipeline construction. Indeed residents pay higher rates because of the waterfront views – such views and access that has now been obstructed.

“The worst is yet to come,” she said. “The fence is going to become a five metre concrete wall…to stop the noise and also stop the views (of construction). It will probably get graffiti.”

“This is the rape of the modern birthplace of Australia,” Mrs Curby added. “Kurnell has been the dumping ground. Any other country would treasure and look after their birth place…There was never any planning.”

Residents are worried that once the wall is created, the noise levels from trucks will worsen as the sound will deflect off the wall back to the houses. Sydney Water claims that the wall will be made with acoustic material. NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees had even offered hotel rooms as refuge for residents affected by the vibrations and noise. “When I told them the noise was unbearable they said they’d relocate us but to be relocated is like moving. It’s really hard,” Mrs Curby said.

She added that a lot of vegetation across the road from her house has been taken out thus removing a barrier that prevented silt deposits from reaching residences. “When they set up a fence, they left a 12 inch gap. When we had wind, it picked up the sand and covered the driveways and the road with fine sand. It even went inside the house.”

Dust is also a concern in Kurnell and a lack thereof has lead to constantly dirty windows and cars. Sydney Water introduced mobile car wash services to residents whose vehicles are dirtied by the construction fill. But there is also a fear of silica dust escaping into the air and causing respiratory problems.

Construction of the pipeline has raised environmental concerns from the community. Mr de Rooy fears sediment spills will damage sea grass and marine life. In April, the silt curtain that was installed to prevent sand and silt from entering the waterways failed to work, resulting in silt spilling into Botany Bay. A second silt curtain also failed miserably. Sydney Water claims that only a small amount of silt entered the Bay and it would not have a long-term environmental impact. “Sedimentation spills are well outside the containment area,” said Mr de Rooy. “Sydney Water knows these are a severe breach and are trying to contain the sediment spill. The environmental requirements by Sydney Water do not allow any sediment spillage into sensitive waters.”

Kurnell: The dumping ground of waste. Image: B. Wong.

Sydney Water spokesperson Colin Judge said: “The fine silt that escaped into the water was not contaminated and a recent inspection has confirmed that there is no significant impact on the Poisdonia Australis variety of seagrass in the construction area.”

Mr Judge said that additional safeguards are in place to keep construction fill out of the water. These include covering the segment of the groyne and construction area exposed to water with geofabric, additional silt curtains including a fixed fence silt curtain as well as daily silt curtain maintenance with divers on call.

Following community complaints about vibrations, Sydney Water spent the past month investigating alternative construction methods. “A method known as push piling is currently being trialled at Silver Beach, Kurnell,” said Mr Judge. “Push piling involves putting sheet piles into the ground using a large weight.” Work is also underway on the many structures that make up the desalination plant.

[1] A process for the installation of pipelines which doesn’t require an open trench for pipe laying that causes extreme disruption to the community.