THE TIME IS NOW
FOR COUNCIL TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE COMMUNITY
AND ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS
ABOUT ANY OR NO PROPOSED SEWERAGE SYSTEM
FOR PENNESHAW
Thursday, 29th March, 2012
Dear friends, It is time that I brought you up to date with the goings on around Penneshaw.
The Islander has a news item saying the Penneshaw Sewerage plans have been completed.
Will we be kept in the dark until the Council have made up their minds what options to take? What are the options – Where is the document required by the granting body showing valid evidence that Penneshaw needs a centralised system?
What evidence in regard to health was provided in the application? What is the price and what infrastructure will be required? Has the land for lagoons been located and purchased? Can we afford a centralised system? What will be the initial cost to the community and what will be the annual charges?
What questions have been asked about the large number of homes which have onsite-systems already? What percentage of homes affected are in this category? Is the council aware of the saving in water costs to those with onsite systems? Why should these owners be penalised?
If the owners retain their systems the water will not be available to the council. Add to that the evaporation of effluent in the ponds. One of the factors the Council suggested in the application was to water the Oval. Is the system at American River providing enough water to satisfy the ovals needs? If not what a waste of our money having this system together with the ongoing maintenance charges every year from now on. Why should we pay AU$ 610, a cost that will rise annually, to pay for an overpriced archaic system together with lagoons? Do not be misled by being told the Council will soften the annual cost initially.
The LGA have already stated that they want to take over all of the council systems in SA. This will result in annual charges skyrocketing. SA Water wants our charges to be sustainable. The truth is these million dollar systems will be unsustainable at current charges. One reason is the effluent will need to be pumped up the hill out of the town at a cost to us and the environment. We have been warned the cost of electricity is going to increase significantly resulting in further increases in sewerage maintenance. And to top it off the carbon tax will set us up for more increases.
If you are like us and find the above overwhelming please do not let it happen. There is a prudential review mandated to happen but this review will want evidence that we do not want a centralised system. We made a strong statement in the petition two years ago but we need a strong statement now. One way to achieve this is for each of you to send an email/letter to us so we can make a community statement.
Our email address is randsk@bigpond.com
PO Box 658 Penneshaw SA 5222.
Our telephone number is 85531115.
The community also has a website www.KIpolis.net, meaning Kangaroo Island community and is hosted by Dr Gabriel Bittar, of American River.
URL www.kangaroo-island.org
We look forward to your prompt response.
Shirley Knight
I totally agree with you. Depending on the system it could be quite costly.
When the full costing has been made available to you it would be interesting to see the comparison in cost if each house had a bio cycle system installed. I believe bio cycle systems cost around $10,000 each installed.
The Port Wakefield CWMS System was presented as a $4.2 Million project to the community. There are around three hundred and fifty connections in the town and even allowing for expansion at a later date the cost should have been considerably less than the blow out cost of nearly $7 Million.
Some one has to pay.
R.I.Pain