Enforceable undertaking for PGH Bricks & Pavers Pty Ltd
June 2020, varied November 2020
Background
PGH Bricks & Pavers Pty Ltd bought a disused brick plant at Badgerys Creek in 2015.
The 200-hectare site had not been used for quarrying clay for bricks since 2012 and the three pits on site had filled with water. PGH began plans to remediate the site and as part of that discovered it did not hold water licences for the pits and had not accounted for rainfall runoff captured in them.
The offences
PGH held no water access licence for the water on the site. NRAR alleges PGH took water in contravention of s60A of the Water Management Act 2000 by capturing water in the quarry pits between 2015 and the present time.
The undertaking
In its Enforceable Undertaking accepted by NRAR, PGH undertook to:
- take steps to stop rainfall run-off entering the three pits by 31 March 2021 to prevent ongoing water take
- pay NRAR double the value of the water taken unlawfully for the period before the undertaking, until the pits no longer collect rainfall run-off (which totalled $9,600)
- install approved flow meters to measure water transferred out of the pits
- supply water stored in Pit 1 to the Western Sydney Airport Corporation without charge
- not supply the pit water to any other entity
- pay NRAR’s investigation costs of $10,000
- pay NRAR’s legal costs of $10,000 incurred in preparation of the undertaking.
There are several community benefits of the enforceable undertaking:
- stopping rainfall run-off being captured by the pits means the water will have the chance to return to local waterways and the environment
- the water in the pits will be used in the development of the Western Sydney Airport site
- PGH paid for the water unlawfully taken.
As at July 2021 PGH had complied with all its undertakings.