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The Wyong
valleys (Dooralong and Yarramalong) account for 50% of the water
catchment for the entire Central Coast of NSW, and they are its
largest water resource. They were proclaimed as a water catchment
area in 1950, gazette number 153 of the Local Government Act 1919.
The Wyong River and Creek, Wyong catchment weir and the ‘pump pool’
for Mardi Dam are located within the horizontal subsidence zone of
the proposed coal mine project. This horizontal subsidence zone also
encroaches on the northern boundary of Mardi Dam and a portion of
the dam itself, which was proclaimed water catchment in 1987.
There are also a number of international waders, recorded under the
Australian Government agreements with China and Japan, whose fragile
habitat is entirely dependent upon the health of the water catchment
river systems, and thirty-three (33) endangered or threatened
species of flora and fauna within the catchment valleys.
Longwall coal mining not only poses a threat to the water supply,
both surface and subsurface waters, but it also poses a threat to
the habitat of the various endangered and threatened species of
flora and fauna.
A report on Jilliby Jilliby Creek, prepared in 2004 by River Care,
in association with Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management
Authority, National Heritage Trust and the Department of
Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, declared this water
system as one of the most pristine in New South Wales. This report
also condemns the damage that will be caused by the impact of
longwall coal mining. |
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