By Margaret Mackay,  Concerned Community Member

Coober Pedy’s story has always been one of tough, resilient people who carved out life and industry from an unforgiving desert. In the 1980s and 90s, we turned that toughness into a reality, building our own water supply system. This wasn’t just infrastructure, it was a declaration of independence, an investment in local jobs, a commitment to our young people, and a symbol of our ability to stand on our own.

But in recent years, that vision and its reality has been betrayed and abused by distant bureaucrats and public servants who lack the patience, local knowledge, and commitment to truly serve us. Experienced local workers were pushed aside, water quality collapsed, pipes burst repeatedly, and vital maintenance was ignored.

While families struggled with unsafe tap water and bought bottled water at their own expense, those in short term control quietly lobbied to hand our precious water asset to SA Water as a quick fix for financial and essential service mismanagement.

This is not just poor governance. It is a breach of trust and a denial of our community’s right to self-determination, driven by a natural instinct to survive remotely.   Our water supply was never intended to be a bargaining chip. It was, and remains, our community’s most critical asset, essential for health, livelihoods, and local economic independence.

The good news is that solutions are within reach. By reclaiming local management and ownership, we can re-establish apprenticeships and jobs, strengthen technical skills, and keep profits and decision-making in our town. We can explore modern, sustainable water technologies that reduce costs and protect our environment, innovations that would make our founders proud.

Coober Pedy deserves better than short-term thinking, clever fixes and political games. We deserve respect, support, and the chance to repair and protect what we built. Let’s unite again as we did decades ago, and show that our spirit cannot be sold off.

And if the Government really believes that there was fault with the perpetrators of the worst case of maladministration in the history of ICAC, (as we keep hearing thrown back as us) then prosecute those, render them incapable of forming factions and operating from the sidelines.  Do your job and protect the majority.   Do not persecute 100s and 100s of innocent people.

Our water, our jobs, our future.