Rodney Stevens
Clarence Valley Council engaged Public Works Advisory as the consultant to investigate all options for the sewering of Ulmarra and a report that has been prepared on the project, which is estimated to cost $16.9 million, was deferred by councillors for up to two months at the September 2023 council meeting.
In June and July 2022, when surveys were mailed to 209 Ulmarra property owners asking for feedback on the town being serviced by a reticulated sewage scheme, 114 responses were received.
The responses saw 18.7 per-cent supporting council exploring sewage options for Ulmarra, 13.9 per-cent supported sewage if they did not have to pay a contribution, 22 per-cent did not want council to investigate sewage and 45.4 per-cent of properties did not submit a response.
At the council meeting on September 27, 2022, council resolved to engage a suitable qualified independent contractor to conduct investigation of all options for sewering Ulmarra, including existing sites, potential new sites, and possible site-specific units to facilitate water reuse options and any other innovative options not already considered.
Council also resolved to allocate up to $100,000 from the Sewer Fund Reserve to conduct the investigation and current expenditure to date from that is approximately $60,000.
Public Works Advisory was engaged by council to conduct the investigation and prepare a report for council to consider, which recommends the reticulation system be pressure sewer (which is currently used in Lawrence, Iluka, and West Yamba) with raw sewage pumped to Clarenza Sewage Treatment Plant.
“The capital cost of sewering Ulmarra with the recommended option (allowing a 30% contingency due to the conceptual nature of the investigation) is estimated as $16.9 million, or approximately $72,770 per property at ultimate development, with an annual operating cost of $149,245,” the report states.
As the investigation was not completed by June 2023, an investigation charge was not levied on the Ulmarra properties in the 2023/24 financial year.
If Council undertake further investigation, an investigation charge would be levied from the following financial year, which is in accordance with the current policy position resolved by council in February 2012.
At the September 26 council meeting councillors were asked to consider the council officer’s recommendation that council note the Ulmarra Sewer Investigation report.
But Cr Steve Pickering put forward an alternate motion, which was seconded by Cr Debrah Novak that council defer consideration of the Ulmarra Sewer Investigation report for up to two months, pending a presentation by the independent authors of the report on their findings and options.
The motion was unanimously passed by council.