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Tuesday 23 July 2024
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Septic servicing costs ‘on the nose’
St Macartan’s Parish Priest, Father Geoffrey McIlroy, is preparing to hit the road for this year’s Wall-to-Wall Ride for Remembrance to Canberra. Picture: Garry Sissons ‘Priest’s journey from the aisle to the road’, Page 11
Cameron McCullough cameron@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is tightening enforcement of its wastewater policy, requiring some landholders to have their systems serviced quarterly or risk substantial fines. There are 22,000 properties on the peninsula that rely on wastewater systems - the highest number of wastewater systems of any Victorian municipality. Following the adoption of its Wastewater Management Plan 2018-2023, the shire has audited systems, lobbied for better sewerage on the peninsula and reviewed its internal policy. Boneo resident Jeff Clencie was surprised to receive a letter from the shire in June last year identifying his wastewater system and requesting a service report to be supplied. “We had purchased the property nine years earlier and had not had the system serviced. We complied with their request,” Clencie said. A follow up letter from the shire said “maintenance of the system by a competently trained person must be carried out at least once every three months”, detailing a fine could be issued for non-compliance. A fine of about $2000 (10 penalty units) can be imposed under the Environmental Protection Regulations 2021 (Vic) (‘EPR’) for failure to take “all reasonable steps to ensure the system is operated so as not to pose a risk of harm to human health or the environment”. “I believe it is outrageous. It is far too frequent, and very costly and inconvenient to have my septic system serviced every three months,” Clencie said. The EPR requires wastewater systems to be serviced but do not
stipulate the service intervals. “The requirement for three-monthly servicing for all aerated sewage treatment plants is imposed by the Environment Protection Authority in the certificate of approval for each type of sewage treatment plant,” a spokesperson from the shire’s environmental health team said. “All aerated treatment plant manufacturers include three-monthly servicing in system specifications and it is industry best practice.” The shire stated quarterly servicing was needed because components in aerated systems like Clencie’s needed regular inspection, maintenance and replacement of parts. “Other passive septic systems such as primary septic tanks do not require quarterly servicing, however they require regular pump outs and maintenance.” Clencie says quarterly servicing is extreme and he told The News he escalated his complaint all the way to the Victorian Ombudsman, but received no relief. In a cautionary tale of “buyer beware”, the certificate of approval for the wastewater system installed at Clencie’s property, and the owner’s manual for the system, both stipulate the need for three-monthly servicing. Further, due to the sensitive nature of some peninsula areas, the shire will no longer allow passive systems to be installed but require systems like Clencie’s that will process waste to a much higher standard. “EPA guidelines and council policy do not allow the installation of primary systems in areas which are at high risk of wastewater contamination due to highly permeable or impervious soils, shallow groundwater or proximity to waterways,” the shire’s spokesperson said. Continued Page 10
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