Water & Sewage for NAC?

The week before the NSW State Election the Government announced as one of their policies, the speeding up of the provision of water & sewage projects.

Of particular interest was the local electorate DECISION that if the State Liberal & National Parties are re elected as Government ,(opinion Polls say this will happen)  then both water & sewage WOULD BE DELIVERED to the areas of Pindimir, Bundabah & North Arm Cove in the next 4 year term of Government. (2015-2019).

Whilst this will set the dogs barking at North Arm Cove , these decisions are requirements for public health , not a take it or leave it option.

Public health provisions are becoming even more essential in all communities, not only to prevent litigation for not providing it , but because our population is expanding much faster than almost all other developed countries, in fact it has grown by more than 5 million people in a very short time. This puts pressure on “where do people live”, the question of density, high rise & where etc.  Fortunately these issues have not landed on our door step just yet , but it is only a matter of time. Where do people find gainful employment is another issue.

With the projected Australian population increase to 39 million people by the end of my lifes expectancy , I find this a frightening reality as in another life I had farming & grazing properties & hold the view that Australia is unable to feed itself from its own food productive capacity, in years of good & bad conditions, once our population reached 20M. Clearly we have passed that point now & relying upon imported food often from third world sources.
So what can we expect from this announcement . As designed already , the water comes from Tea Gardens & their newly re engineered treatment plant, will head for Bundabah, then into the expected “South Bundabah” residential development some people refer to as the “Fame Cove” area , then proceed underwater to NAC , arriving at WATER STREET then proceeding via the  old AA Coy “dunny lane” & eventually finding its way to all corners of the NAC settled areas.

Dont think that this wont happen because we are aware that some 7000 blocks of land exist between the Cove & Tahlee could be released for habitation at some stage in order that this population rise as predicted, has  available land resources , but maybe not in our lifetime.

Should the above come about , then what is needed immediately will be an accurate “guesstimate” of the cost of providing water & sewage & then after the financial contributions from Government & environment levies , what is the projected cost per home that will be born by the owners. These heavily subsidised projects may well be cost effective when compared to PUMP OUT sewage monthly fees & those that have onsite transpiration pits probably have that 7 year “sunset clause” which we often hear about even though the reality might be harder to find . Its all about public health & the cost per household so once these numbers are out there where everyone can assess its impact , then the rational debate can begin . It is well documented that NAC residents are concerned about the water quality in our area & this gets  mentioned regularly. That issue will be eliminated once sewage & water arrives. The remaining issues of chemicals in town water & we might be quite satisfied with our existing setups , but the health issues solved by sewage & water connections will always win the argument .         

JOHN BLACKBOURN.