Alison Simmons has started buying bottled water for her grandchildren. The farmer and retired nurse has lived at her property near Forest Reefs, about 8km from Cadia Hill goldmine in central west New South Wales, for 30 years. She has always relied on rainwater and never felt any ill-effects.
But when the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) announced an investigation into the Cadia goldmine regarding its management of “emissions of dust and other pollutants”, she decided she could no longer risk it.