ENG417/517 Environmental Awareness and Sustainability ENG417 Role Play XXXXXXXXXX ENG417 Sustainability Role-play 2 PFAS contamination of the groundwater around Katherine, NT Background The residents...

ENG417/517 Environmental Awareness and Sustainability
ENG417 Role Play XXXXXXXXXX
ENG417 Sustainability
Role-play 2 PFAS contamination of the groundwater around Katherine, NT
Background
The residents of Katherine, NT have experienced perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (PFOS) and
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contamination, as a result of fire-fighting activities on the local RAAF base
at Tindall, of the local aquifer and Katherine River from which the town drinking water supply is drawn. As
a result, water treatment measures have had to be implemented at considerable cost. There is now no PFAS
detectable at levels exceeding Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
Task
Investigate alternative sources of water supply, noting that these sources may have had to continue providing
water for up to two years until completion of remediation of the aquifer, or upgrading of the treatment plant.
To explore alternative water sources further, students will be allocated to one of the following special
interest groups:
 SCADA, and mainframe, IT systems engineer
 Local Council elected member
 Swimming pool operator
 Abattoir (slaughterhouse) operator
 Environmentalist/green activist
 Rural resident (needs large amounts of water for fruit trees and grass)
 Town resident (lives in a small house/unit and has only a small garden)
 Aboriginal Land Traditional Owner under the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 No. 110, 1993.
 NT News Editorial team

External students may choose to represent any of the aforementioned special interest groups as the balance
of numbers amongst externals is unimportant given that only internal students will actually attend the role-
play workshop for which balanced numbers and equal representation are more important.
Each student is to prepare a maximum of one A4 page of notes on the probable impact that this scenario will
have with regards alternative source(s) of water supply on the special interest group to which they have been
allocated. These are to be relatively rough notes, and are certainly not in the form of a formal report/essay.
Notes must be submitted electronically in .pdf format through Learnline. After marking (see below), your
notes will be placed on Learnline, so that they can be reviewed by all students thereby helping to shape their
opinions as well.
Marking scheme
The written notes should be your own thoughts and deductions from the research you ca
y out to complete
this exercise. No marks will be awarded for material copied from the InterNet or other sources. Your notes
will be marked on their depth and extent of factual content, rather than emotive argument.
This exercise is worth 5% of the total marks for this unit. Late submissions cannot be accepted, as this will
delay the up-loading of your submissions on Learnline.