Has North Arm Cove been left out of the MCC draft 2050 water and sewage strategy??

MidCoast Council currently has its draft "Our Water Our Future 2050" strategy out on its "Have Your Say" website for public consultation.

This strategy has two strategic priorities that are applicable to North Arm Cove - water security and whether unserviced villages (such as North Arm Cove and Pindimar) should have water and sewage services connected. It considers the growing MidCoast population, and the impacts of climate change, particularly our vulnerability to the impacts of drought.

Unfortunately I feel the draft strategy has not properly considered the needs of unserviced villages.

In relation to the "water security" priority, there is no consideration to ensure that unserviced villages have adequate water supplies available in the event of prolonged drought.

In relation to the "whether unserviced villages should have water and sewage services connected", the strategy states:

"Council will continue to monitor and review the currently unserviced villages within the MidCoast region. There are currently no plans to provide water and sewer services to these villages within the 30-year planning horizon. However, Council will prioritise sewer servicing should ongoing monitoring indicate a risk to public health and/or the environment due to poor performance of on-site sewerage management."

There is no provision to review the needs of unserviced villages and do the necessary planning and design work so when the time comes and sewage services are needed and funding is available then sewages services can be installed.

IUnfortunately the strategy focuses on towns that already have water and sewage services, and ignores the needs of unserviced villages.

And even though villages such a North Arm Cove are regarded as high risk villages, in preparing this draft strategy Council did not consult at all with the North Arm Cove community!

I have studied the draft strategy, and the myriad of accompanying documents, and prepared a draft submission on it. I have attached a copy for information.

If you are interested in the provision of water and sewage services to North Arm Cove, have a read of the strategy and my draft submission, and lodge a submission to Council.

This is a link to the draft strategy - Our Water Our Future 2050. You can lodge a submission through this link.

You'll have to be quick because submissions close this coming Sunday 6 August at 4:30pm.