1998 Sydney water crisis
The 1998 Sydney water crisis involved the suspected contamination of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney by the microscopic pathogens Cryptosporidium and Giardia between July and September 1998. Following routine water sampling and testing, over a series of weeks low level contaminants were found at Prospect, , Sydney Hospital, the NSW Art Gallery, Macquarie Street, Centennial Park, , , , and water treatment facilities at Warragamba, Nepean, , , Woronora, Macarthur, the Illawarra and Prospect. The reliability of these test results was subsequently called into doubt. Precautionary "boil water" alerts were raised covering several suburban areas for the period of the crisis. In response to the crisis, the Government of New South Wales established a Commission of Inquiry, chaired by jurist Peter McClellan as Commissioner. McClennan handed down his final report to the NSW Premier making ninety-one recommendations that led to the reorganisation of water supply and water management functions and agencies in Greater Metropolitan Sydney via the establishment of the Sydney Catchment Authority with responsibility for catchments, dams, and bulk supply reservoirs; while Sydney Water maintained management of water supply distribution, water treatment and sewerage, and stormwater management. Both the Chairman and Managing Director of Sydney Water stood down during and following the crisis. Background Sydney's water supply network , Sydney Water supplied approximately of water each day to more than 3.8 million people in the Sydney, Blue Mountains, and Illawarra regions. A network of nine major dams plus several minor storage reservoirs was used to collect and store water, which in turn was delivered to a network of over of water mains, 165 pumping stations, and 261 service reservoirs. The water supply was drawn from catchments on four main river systems the Upper Nepean, the Warragamba, the Shoalhaven and the Woronora with minor supplies drawn from the Hawkesbury River, and tributaries of the Grose, Fish and Duckmaloi rivers. Since late 1996 all of Sydney's water supply has been filtered. Eleven water treatment plants are used to filter drinking water supplied to Sydney, Illawarra and the Blue Mountains. Seven of these facilities are owned and operated by Sydney Water. These are located at Orchard Hills, Cascade, North Richmond, Nepean, Warragamba, and Greaves Creek. The remaining four privately owned and operated plants at Prospect, Macarthur, Illawarra and Woronora provide filtered water under contract to Sydney Water. These four plants provide more than 90% of Sydney's drinking water. Up to 80% is supplied through the Prospect plant alone. The water is distributed from Prospect to Pipe Head by tunnels and mains, with some areas supplied directly from these mains. From Pipe Head, water for the inner city, suburbs south of Sydney Harbour and inner western suburbs is carried by tunnel and mains to two large service reservoirs at Potts Hill and then by two tunnels (the Pressure Tunnel and City Tunnel) which terminate at and Dowling Street pumping stations. Two pumping stations one at Prospect and one at supply water for the northern suburbs and the northern beaches. The