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Water Corporation Discharge 2009 |
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Discharge to Seven Mile Creek |
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Treated Wastewater Discharge to Seven Mile CreekBetween September 5 - 17 2009 the Water Corporation released just over 86 megalitres of secondary treated wastewater from the Albany Tree Farm Dam No. 2 into Seven Mile Creek.This 'controlled' discharge occurred without approval from either the Department of Water (DOW) or Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and DEC is currently conducting an investigation into possible breaches of the Water Corporation licence. Out of concern for the adverse impacts of this considerable discharge on stream water quality in Seven Mile Creek and ultimately Lake Powell, where annual toxic blue-green algal blooms are already a significant problem, the TCG wrote letters to both Water Corporation and DEC expressing our disapproval and seeking explanations and more detailed information. The fact that Dam No. 2 was reaching its capacity to hold treated waste water was already evident back in March / April this year when the possibility of a creek discharge was first flagged. A large part of our concern is the apparent inability and /or unwillingness on the part of Water Corporation to apply appropriate strategies to avoid the need for such a discharge. The TCG recently received a response from Water Corporation explaining the history and background as to how the dams had become so full and their inability to reduce the dam levels by further tree irrigation. Their response plays down the importance and impact of nutrients and bacteria released in the discharge, claiming there was no threat to water quality or public safety. The response also outlines short, medium and long term strategies that the Water Corporation intends to pursue and is evidently 'now committed to' which we most certainly welcome. The letter however, failed to inform us as to what water quality monitoring they had undertaken in relation to the discharge, nor any specific data on Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus and E. Coli (bacteria) levels present in the discharge. Neither have they provided us with copies of their Annual Reports from 2007 and 2008 on the operations of the tree farm. For details on the letters sent by the Torbay Catchment Group, the news article which appeared in the Albany Advertiser Weekender on 22 October and the response letters received please click on the links below: |
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Copy of Weekender article, 22nd October 2009. |
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