House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Grievance Debate Grievance Debate Houseboat Greywater Systems HOUSEBOAT GREYWATER SYSTEMS Mr WHETSTONE House of Assembly Chaffey Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:10): I want to speak today about houseboat greywater systems along the River Murray. In particular, I have concerns about the EPA regulations requiring the installation of these treatment systems, which are simply not up to the job. It was about four weeks ago when the shadow minister for the environment and I met with the EPA to nut out exactly where the systems are falling down and where they are not up to pace with the greywater requirements for a houseboat that travels the length of the River Murray. These systems are costing upwards to around $20,000 per vessel. In some cases, some of the commercial operators, who are the only houseboat owners who are installing the greywater systems at the moment, are at a huge disadvantage because, as it stands today, they have to slip the boat and take it out of production. They have to fit the greywater system, and they also have to keep up the maintenance and ongoing repairs to keep these greywater systems going that are clearly not up to the job. The EPA regulations have already been enforced on operators. Today, we are seeing that commercial operators, who were very nervous about putting these systems on their houseboats, are now disconnecting them, or they are putting overflow or bypasses on them. In some cases, people wait 12 months to have a houseboat holiday, so you can imagine how they feel when they get upriver and the next minute they have the alarms going off and they are stranded because these greywater systems are not working, they are blocked. In one instance, I had a constituent who hired a houseboat, at great expense, while on holidays and, while he was sleeping, the greywater system overflowed and ran down the passageway of the houseboat. As I see it, the EPA is putting its regulation in front of human health, and that is very concerning. Just to provide a little information about the houseboat industry, I indicate that the houseboat industry came about through innovation which was born in the Riverland, through the late Ian Showell, with the Liba-Liba houseboats. Today, we see hundreds of houseboats on the river in South Australia. In a lot of cases, they are used as private homes and, of course, as a tourism business. The Houseboat Hirers Association has grave concerns about what these greywater systems are going to do to their industry in relation to the cost. They are being used as guinea pigs to trial and test these greywater systems, and the EPA is not engaged with the manufacturers of these systems. It is quite clear that the EPA regulations are much more advanced than the products they are trying to fit onto these houseboats. What worries me is whether the two manufacturers, Aerofloat and Newtreat, still be around in the future to service, repair and supply parts for these houseboats with the greywater systems. I am hearing today that the manufacturers are very nervous that the EPA is not working with the manufacturers to get these systems up and running in order to make them sustainable. In a minute, these manufacturers are going to go out of business, and we will not have anyone there to do the R&D to progress the manufacture of these systems, and these people, particularly the commercial houseboat operators, will be left in the lurch, with a dud greywater system, which was purchased at great expense and which is not doing the job. I want to make it very clear that the houseboat operators are very conscious of the need to protect the River Murray environment. At the moment, some of them are even developing their own solutions. They are having to modify the greywater systems, because these systems clearly do not work. I commend the EPA for acting to protect the environment, but it is not given enough resources or funds to work with the manufacturers to get these systems up and running so that we can protect the environment in relation to the intrusion of greywater. The houseboat industry is a huge contributor to tourism, particularly along the River Murray and particularly in Chaffey. I have houseboat operators—particularly the small operators—who come to me wanting their money back and that is a real concern for the environment.