"Canberra News, Views and Opinion"
Territory And Municipal Services are warning that they’re permanently closing Vanitys Crossing way out in the mountains to protect water quality:
“TAMS’ decision to permanently close Vanity’s Crossing follows advice from ActewAGL and is a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of contamination or an event which would make the Cotter Reservoir unusable as a source of drinking water.
“Gates will be installed on either side of the crossing on Tuesday 15 November 2011. These will remain open
until 6 February 2012, when they will be permanently locked to prevent vehicle access. People will still be able to access the area on foot or bicycle however we ask that people be mindful of how their behaviour may impact on the water and surrounding environment. Signage will be in place to inform people of the closure and of the water quality issues at the site.
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Ah well that just sucks.
Contamination hasnt been an issue for the last 100 years, well I have never detected hydrocarbons in my drinking water. I would have thought the dumped cars which are often dumped down the cliff face would be more of an issue then the few cars who drive across the crossing.
Next they will ban swimming here.
I predict those gates will be in need of maintenance fairly often.
Its not just cars, its the rubbish that people leave there like full nappies & such. I hate the idea too but the rest of it has been closed off. I will continue to enjoy it on my pushbike which is actually nice as there will be no drongoes in 4WD’s flying past me (& yes I own a 4WD & have loved using the area for 20 years).
So we’ll lose a great little nature spot because of possible contamination, but on the same page of press releases, theyre warning half a dozen suburbs a week to boil their water cos it migth be brown and full of contamination? I wonder if they’ll stop animals p*ssing in the water too, after all, that probably causes more ‘contamination’ than a handful of cars a day.
Are they just closing the actual crossing, or are they closing big stretches of road on either side? Because if it is just the couple of metres through the river I find it hard to believe it will make any difference.
These little areas are being closed off, slice by slice – it has been happening for a fair while – and on the thinnest of pretexts. Has there been an increase in traffic over the previous 20 years etc? Yet another daft ACT Local Council decision that will be justified with the usual managerial balloon juice and associated blitherage. Looks like the Fun Police are winning.
Seems like a moot point, ACTEW’s own testing has found Cryptosporidium in Googong’s water and both that and Giardia in Murrumbidgee samples which are now been pumped over to Googong – bearing in mind that unlike Stromlo, the Googong plant has not been upgraded to use UV filtration despite ACTEW doing such an upgrade at Stromlo to cope with River water.
The other curious point is the only concerning contamination I’m aware of recently is a positive reading for Glyphosate in Bendora Dam, the most remote of Canberra’s dams. http://www.actewagl.com.au/~/media/ActewAGL/ActewAGL-Files/About-us/Publications/Monthly-water-and-wastewater-report-April-2011.ashx
I hate the fun police