Tea Tree Gully Community Wastewater Management System

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:34): Today, I would like to speak about the Tea Tree Gully council's Community Wastewater Management System (CWMS). The Tea Tree Gully council CWMS provides wastewater services to approximately 4,700 properties, many of which are located within my electorate of Newland.

The CWMS is a system where, essentially, the heavy stuff in the wastewater from households is collected by a septic tank, typically owned by the home owner in their front or back yard. The effluent is carried away by the council's network of pipes before ultimately ending up in the SA Water sewerage system. The CWMS is owned and managed by the Tea Tree Gully council and, as such, is the responsibility of the council. This has been the case for almost 50 years.

Shortly after being elected, it became clear to me that a number of residents within my community have been concerned about this system. There is the inconvenience of having septic tanks emptied every four years, which is a service provided by the council, but in some cases it requires additional expense by the home owner to reach the tank. I have also heard stories of people not realising they even had a tank, not knowing where the tank is and even some cases of structures being unknowingly built over the top of tanks, all while the number of blockages in the system has increased by 138 per cent in just five years.

In fact, I recently visited a property in Banksia Park where I was shown an overflowing inspection point by the home owner in their backyard. The CWMS line runs along the back of their property and is, in fact, adjacent to one of the local creeks. I understand that the council did promptly attend the residence to repair and disinfect the area, but obviously this is a less than ideal situation and one that is of increasing concern, given the steady increase in the number of blockages.

While it is fair to say that the system is not about to collapse tomorrow, it is also fair to say that the system has been in a steady state of decline for decades, with very little evidence of any attention paid by the council to planning for its future. In fact, at a recent community meeting, we heard that in the late nineties and early 2000s the council had come to the realisation that the system was not about to be taken off their hands. What was the council's response then for the following 20 years? Nothing.

On that point, in only very recent years an asset management plan was produced that makes for some pretty concerning reading. Moreover, in only very recent months, the council made the decision to jack up the annual services charge by almost 30 per cent over the next few years—a sudden, very unexpected and dramatic increase. What we have now is a situation where residents have been handing over hundreds of dollars each year to the council in the belief that the council was paying attention to the future of the system.

Unsurprisingly, now that residents realise the council had been completely asleep at the wheel for decades, there is a great deal of concern and, in many cases, white-hot anger from members of the community. I must say that that anger is shared by me. There is absolutely nothing unusual or surprising about infrastructure ageing over time; this is completely normal and should have been planned for well before now. I was shocked to learn that between 2012 and 2016 not a single dollar was placed into council's CWMS reserve.

The situation the council finds itself in is an example of what happens when you sit on your hands and hope a problem will just go away. I know that many residents in my community are incredibly disappointed with long-serving members of the council in particular. At the end of the day, though, despite the current predicament being entirely of the council's own making, it is ultimately the residents who end up shouldering the burden.

To that end, I have been in regular contact with the Minister for Environment and Water in respect of any role that SA Water may play in the future of the council's CWMS system. I can reconfirm that SA Water is open to continuing commercial discussions with the council, and I have provided contact details to the council so that they can recommence discussions with SA Water at a higher level than had occurred previously.

I would strongly urge the Tea Tree Gully council to engage with SA Water. The ball is in the council's court. Residents understand that there is no simple solution to this problem, but they want a plan. Residents are not interested in finger-pointing or any further abdication of responsibility: they want solutions.

As I said before, SA Water is open to having commercial discussions with council, and I would encourage the council to engage fully and work towards the best possible outcome for our community as we were all elected to do.