Today I was again contacted in relation to a sewerage odour emanating from the pump station on Hughes Road just south of the Bargara Road intersection and backing onto Beach Milieu. The complainant advised that his grandchildren were becoming physically ill from the stench and could not play in their backyard let alone handle the smell within the house itself. Wondering if this could be an exaggeration I went to the site to inspect it for myself and as soon as I opened my car door I started retching. I don’t mean that there was just an awful smell – I actually had to control myself from throwing up and that was just from one breath.
This issue has been going on for years and I’m continually given one reason after another for the cause of the problem and the proposed methods of fixing it. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the solution will be an expensive one and one that comes down to priorities during budget considerations. I can accept that. What I can’t accept is how those priorities are determined.
In this instance we have children who can’t play in their own back yard without becoming physically ill whilst hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on a project such as the Barolin Street Upgrade which (to my mind) was completely unnecessary at this time, did little to rectify anything, created a considerable degree of community angst and incurred an additional budget overrun of around $200,000. It needs to be remembered that budget blowouts such as this often means that other scheduled works across the region have to miss out.
The problem causing the odour emissions from the Hughes Road Sewerage Pump Station is a health risk and is unacceptable by any standard. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care whether it’s in my Division or elsewhere – issues such as this need to be prioritised and rectified as a matter of urgency.