BEGA Valley Shire Council has taken steps to alleviate fears about the proposed Wanatta Lane Central Waste Facility.
In a meeting with the Bega District News this week, mayor Tony Allen, Doug Mein, director of engineering services and David Basil, council’s waste manager, gave an explanation overview of what they considered to be issues surrounding the development.
The site, which was purchased by the council administrator in 2002, was identified in 2004 from a list of 41 sites - not owned by council - throughout the shire as the most suitable for a central waste facility.
The other tip sites in the shire are, according to council, outdated and approaching full capacity.
If a new facility is not established, council might need to consider other more costly options such as taking waste outside the shire for disposal.
Studies on the proposed site were done, public consultation was initiated and a number of meetings have been called, both by council and concerned residents.
One of the biggest concerns raised at a public meeting held last week in Wolumla, was that of leachate contamination of the Bega River catchment.
According to Mr Basil, there is an almost negligible chance of that happening.
“A layer of bentonite clay will be added to the existing soil underneath a double lining of thick plastic, which is used specifically for these sorts of purposes,” he said.
“Then on the small chance there is a break in the lining or it is damaged or cracked, the clay swells and seals the gap.
“Even if there was a leak, the leachate would run down the gradient of the soil to the bottom and it is unlikely to enter the groundwater.”
Mr Basil said the dam designed to hold any leachate runoff had a capacity of 13.2 megalitres, more than enough, he considered, to hold any rainwater that might fall on the “footprint” of the site.
“Of course, the amount of leachate is dependent on the amount of rain that falls on the landfill area,” he said.
Mr Mein and Mr Basil said there had been extensive testing on the soil.
One test pit excavation which was completed for soil analysis was dug to a depth of five to six metres on the top, middle and bottom of the slope of the proposed site, where the permeability of the soil was found to be very low.
Mr Basil said in his experience, the site at Wolumla was the furthest away from a watercourse that he knew of on the South Coast.
“Most tips that I know of are only about 250 metres from a watercourse whereas this is almost a kilometre from Wolumla Creek, which, theoretically is a significant distance for any runoff to make it to the creek,” he said.
Mr Basil said the open area of the tip would be covered with dirt each day so there was nothing exposed and the plans could also incorporate netting over the exposed portions to capture any waste that might be blown away.
According to Mr Mein, in February this year council received communication from the Department of Environment and Climate Change that the site had potential to be licensed as a waste disposal facility, but had asked for detailed landfill design plans to be prepared.
Once those designs have been studied, DECC will then determine whether it is a suitable site for a landfill and a licence issued, refused or given with conditions.
Mr Basil said plans were being drawn up now and, working in consultation with DECC planners, should be finalised by the end of August.
Mr Mein said the design plans will be made available for the public to scrutinise, although it was not a statutory requirement.
“Even though it is not something we have to do, we want the public to be aware of what’s in the design,” he said.
Mr Basil explained the detailed design is the actual specifications of the facility and the “nuts and bolts” of what is actually going to happen, whereas an EIS is a concept and measures the impact of the concept plan.
“Now what the EPA has asked is exactly how it is going to be built and that’s the process we are going through,” he said.
“Then it will be up to DECC.”
Cr Allen said there was a lot of misinformation being spread around the district and that people needed to “find out exactly what is happening, exactly what the specifications of the site are and the controls put in place to stop any problems”.
Cr Allen reiterated his comments of last week that council can’t be responsible for determining its own Development Application, even though it is named as the “consent authority” on the paperwork.
“If the DECC say we can have a license then the report will indicate a group of relevant people to which council could delegate its authority for determining the matter,” he said.
“Or expressions of interest would be called for and council then chooses one of those authorities.”
Cr Allen said that he wanted to get all the facts on the table and “as we go through the process we can address issues that come up”.
“If during the process any of the authorities say it has to be abandoned then that’s what we’ll do, but why do that if all the criteria required is met?” he said.
“There has been a lot of research done and a lot of issues addressed.
“All the steps have been taken one at a time and have come back positive.”
Cr Allen said as council was elected to make decisions which it thought were in the best interest of the community, the process it was going through with the waste facility site would find out what that decision was.
“As part of the process the public has a right to express their concerns and say what they like,” he said.
“That’s democracy and democracy is working here.”
On the subject of bulldozers being used to clear land around the site, council said it was a matter of putting in boundary fences, a process that did not need a DA providing certain protocols were not overstepped.
Information on the whole process and answers to questions formally raised at the Wolumla meeting appear on council’s website.
No answers are expected from DECC until after the new council is elected in September.