Steve Pritchard, Yarra Valley Water’s lead operator at the Healesville Sewerage Treatment Plant has the job of fixing things when hazardous waste hits the system.
By Kath Gannaway
THE illegal dumping of hazardous waste into the Healesville sewerage system has cost Yarra Valley Water (YVW) thousands of dollars and posed a threat to the local environment.
The illegally dumped waste, which could not be identified, caused a malfunction at its Argoon Road treatment plant on 4 August.
YVW Manager Infrastructure Services David Snadden said although the treatment plant was able to recover the incident had cost the water utility tens of thousands of dollars and affected its ability to treat and reuse the water.
“In this case, the hazardous waste entering the treatment plant compromised our ability to treat the water to a high enough standard for release back into local creeks.
“The plant had to be taken offline and flows were also held back in the system, risking the chance of a sewage spill into the environment had there been heavy rain overloading the system,” Mr Snadden said.
Mr Snadden said although Yarra Valley Water has an active sewage compliance program in place for businesses, it had been unable to identify the source of the illegal waste.
“We urge the community to contact us if they see any suspicious vehicles dumping illegal waste into manholes in the neighbourhood, to ensure that we can act immediately,” Mr Snadden said.
The 24-hour number for sewerage or water issues is 13 27 62.
