JOLENE OGLE
Don’t get caught with your pants down – that was the candid advice from Shine Lawyers’ spokesperson and environmental crusader Erin Brockovich.
Talking with Noosa Today at the Peregian Beach Veggie Village, Ms Brockovich said communities needed to create emergency plans to protect their most precious resource – water.
“I think we need to be more aware, we need to have regulations in place that protect our water supply, we need to have contingency and back-up plans if we have a problem with our water supply,” she said.
Ms Brockovich said communities can face dire consequences if their main water supply is contaminated and there is no “back-up plan” in place.
She said Charlestown in West Virginia, US, was an example of what can go wrong after a suspected 5,000 gallons of cleaning chemical leaked into the water supply in January, leaving more than 300,000 residents without water.
“Everyone got caught with their pants down as there were no plans in place. We’re in serious trouble,” she said.
“We need, as an entire, global society, to find out how we’re going to protect and preserve what we have, not pollute what we have and be prepared for back-up and emergency plans. Because the day will come, we just saw it in the US.
“I hope that at a community level, at an agency level, you do everything you can to protect and sustain the supplies you have,” she said.
“Water is the single most necessary element to sustain all of life.”
