Tuesday, 7 June 2022

Paynesville wastewater treatment plant

Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (19:49): (1963) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Water, the Honourable Lisa Neville in the other place. The action I seek on behalf of the Paynesville community is for the minister to create contingency funding to assist the East Gippsland Water Authority to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure investment in the wastewater facility there to cater for changing climatic patterns and increased regional demand.

Bureau of Meteorology and Bairnsdale airport data indicate that 2019 was the driest year on record and, by contrast, 2021 has been the wettest year at the same location. If you live in or visit that area, you know 2019 was the culmination of a terribly long drought. Many people suffered as a result, and we had a lot of wet weather last year. Coupled with the sustained growth in the permanent and temporary population, the wastewater treatment plant at Paynesville has not kept pace with human demand and environmental fluctuations. This is not a new problem. It has been building over time, but it certainly came to a head last year and again now this year.

Waterlogged pastures are one way that East Gippsland Water provides a filtration mechanism for the treated wastewater. But the waterlogged pastures were there last year and this year, and there were controlled discharges into Forge Creek in September, December and again on 31 May this year. There has been considerable community concern and media interest, and constituents have contacted me. Constituents from Newlands Arm have flagged with me the EPA notice and also licensing requirements. I know my dear colleague Tim Bull has raised the EPA licence in the other house, and I am not going to readdress that. That is for the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. I thank Tim for doing this.

But the three lagoons they have as onsite storage are inadequate, and I understand that East Gippsland Water has been making plans to upgrade the facility and also the pasture. But they need to put in plans in a five-year rotation, and the key factor here is that population and environmental issues are impacting on each other. I call on the minister to review the current funding and ensure that there is additional contingency funding made available to fast-track this issue, because it is not going away. People are concerned about (a) their health and also (b) the discharge into Forge Creek that can then work its way down into our fantastic Gippsland Lakes.