Thread: Treated sewage on ovals

No smell from the water used here in Sunbury on the ovals, or the golf course - all use solely recycled water from the nearby treatment plant. The golf course my Mum plays also uses 100% recycled water for their irrigation - no smell there either. Sounds like there is something different or wrong with yours...

Remember these plants produce AAA grade water using reverse osmosis - on a lot of these plants, the water is technically drinkable, but is not allowed to be, so not sure what is up with yours.

I have worked at SEPP and Weribee Farm. The worst smell they get is from 115E Lagoon is that of a field of cabbages.
I suspect they are using raw sewage if it smells so bad. Either that or the sewerage treatment plant is not working properly.

No reverse osmoisis here Babs.There are several treatment ponds,the final product is then treated with chlorine,travels to a storage tank which is pumped onto the oval.The treated effulent is only allowed to remain in the tank for 12 hours.
As I say,brand new system,it may be teething issues.Didnt smell like that when I flushed it down the ****er!!!!!
Andrew

That sounds a bit dodgey. Not allowed anything like that over here. I have commissioned gensets at around a dozen sites in Vic and got to know a bit about how they build them - all RO over here. They are being built to produce drinkable water should the laws ever change allowing this. Then they just need to runa pipe (or in some cases open a valve) and let the treated water into the drinking supply.

It won't happen anytime soon, but one day it will.

I would be complaining myself if they are using a system like that.

A google finds the environmental approval.
http://www.google.com.au/url'sa=t&rc...CkrQs0_QWrnZhg
Andrew

Looking at how they have to monitor it, it shows they only need to take a weekly test of the treated water to meet the standards in table 4. That shows a maximum ecoli level of less than 10,000 cfu per 100ml. The maximum allowable for drinking water, food - anything that goes near your mouth is 0. Personally I wouldn't want to use the ground that has this spread all over it. With weekly testing, there is nothing really stopping them pumping raw sewage apart from when they test it - I'm sure that wouldn't happen, but you can see my point - who knows what is really going on if it is not constantly monitored or every batch is monitored.

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

A google finds the environmental approval.
http://www.google.com.au/url'sa=t&rc...CkrQs0_QWrnZhg
Andrew

Thanks for posting the link Andrew - from your description and the content of the approval that you linked to, the operator (the Council?) may be contravening the licence.

Did the person that prepared the risk assessment understand the project and does the operator have the requisite skills to operate the sytem correctly?

I would be getting onto the EPA without delay and if you have a tame solicitor, talk to him as well.

I gather that you are employed the Council and obviously you need to take care not to jeopardise your job, but nobody should have to put up with that kind of pollution.

Maybe get one of the councillers around while it's bad to have a sniff.

There's one of these systems operating in the Moonbi/Kootigal area (NSW) with none of the issues you are describing.

Originally Posted by bacicat

That sounds a bit dodgey. Not allowed anything like that over here. I have commissioned gensets at around a dozen sites in Vic and got to know a bit about how they build them - all RO over here. They are being built to produce drinkable water should the laws ever change allowing this. Then they just need to runa pipe (or in some cases open a valve) and let the treated water into the drinking supply.

It won't happen anytime soon, but one day it will.

I would be complaining myself if they are using a system like that.

I was surveyed a couple of weeks ago as to whether I would agree to recycled water being added to our drinking water,
If rain water is not suitable for drinking (according to the local council), what makes them think treated sewerage is suitable for drinking?