Fury over Coca-Cola taking trucks of WA’s bore water for Mount Franklin two years on from scandal

Coca-Cola continues to take truckloads of WA’s water — at little to no cost — to bottle up and sell, two years after the government declared the arrangement “didn’t pass the pub test”. The controversial, yet legal, actions of the beverage giant have also infuriated locals north of Perth who say they are subjected to endless trucks carrying water from the region. In May 2024, following a media expose, Coca-Cola agreed “voluntarily” stop using a bore on a property it owned in Karragullen, in the Perth Hills, for water to bottle up for its Mount Franklin brand. The scandal resulted in then Water Minister Simone McGurk declaring it “didn’t pass the pub test” and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation putting in extra reporting measures relating to bore water extraction. But The West Australian can reveal vast volumes of bore water are still being taken from Perth’s outer suburbs and trucked to Coca-Cola’s treatment and packaging plant in Kewdale. The West this month witnessed several Black Mount Spring Water trucks entering Coca-Cola’s Kewdale facility within the space of two hours. Victoria-based Black Mount draws water from bores at undisclosed locations in the Perth Hills and Gingin area, according to its website. Asahi is another major end-user of Gingin’s bore water for its Frantelle and Cool Ridge brands. And the movements have frustrated locals, with a Shire of Gingin spokesperson saying they are tired of the constant truck movements in and out of the area. “The community concerns are generally two-fold, one being the number of truck movements and the operating times of the trucks that are causing amenity impacts, and the second being environmental concerns of the water extraction on groundwater levels in a drying climate,” the spokesperson said. A Coca-Cola spokeswoman said the Karragullen bore remains out of action but conceded the company was instead sourcing its water from suppliers. The spokeswoman also would not divulge who Coca-Cola’s suppliers are, their water source locations, and how much is supplied. Despite touting “transparency”, the spokeswoman also refused to disclose whether Coca-Cola continues to use bore water. “For our bottled water products, we source water used at our Kewdale manufacturing facility through accredited contract suppliers who are members of the Australasian Bottled Water Institute,” she said. “As a founding member of the ABWI, we support industry efforts to improve transparency and develop approaches that reflect Western Australia’s unique environmental conditions.” About 276 million litres of monitored bore water in the greater Perth region is extracted annually for bottled water use, of which approximately 84 per cent comes from the Shire of Gingin. Bore water is free to use whether it’s from land deemed “proclaimed” or “unproclaimed”. A maximum of $8,930 is paid annually to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation for each bore extraction licence on proclaimed land. No licence is required for unproclaimed land and DWER has minimal oversight. “In unproclaimed groundwater areas, the department has no legislative provisions to regulate and constrain groundwater use,” DWER said. Water Minister Don Punch pointed to the new measures relating to bore water usage but admitted he didn’t know how much of WA’s water ends up in the hands of individual companies, including Coca-Cola. “DWER works in partnership with the Australian Beverages Council and individual operators, including Coca-Cola, on matters relating to water bottling and groundwater abstraction,” Water Minister Don Punch said. “The Council, representing its members, has introduced measures to install water meters on active bores used for water bottling and to provide annual data reporting to DWER.” The Nationals and the Shire of Gingin want the State Government to drastically increase its oversight of the arrangement. Shadow water minister Peter Rundle said the situation represented a “clear failure” by the Government, “What we’re seeing is a clear failure by the Cook Government to properly monitor and manage groundwater extraction across Western Australia,” Shadow water minister Peter Rundle said. “What we need is sensible regulation and proper monitoring of our water supply. The Government has had nine years to get this right, but it clearly has no idea what it’s doing. “Whether its water being trucked out of regional areas or a lack of oversight in unproclaimed groundwater zones, the Government simply does not know how much water is being taken.”