By Kylie Budge
MELBOURNE — Pollution of Melbourne's beaches and waterways has become an even more serious problem after the third sewerage collapse in the urban area in just over four months.
The collapses include one section of the 80-year old Moonee Ponds main sewer on January 26, the collapse of a road in Kensington and another section of the same sewer in. The November collapse left a bus-sized hole in the street — a major shopping area — and sent sewage along stormwater drains into the Maribyrnong River, which empties into Port Phillip Bay.
For at least three weeks this summer, beaches along the bay were off limits to swimmers because the sewer at Kensington was pouring 360,000 litres of raw sewage an hour into the Maribyrnong River.
"We're probably Melbourne's major environmental manager, but at the moment we're one of Melbourne's greatest polluters ... and we're not very proud of that", Melbourne Water's general manager, David Knipe, told the Age in December. He announced that Melbourne Water would review its major sewers, searching for "hot spots" in its 17,000 kilometre system, to try to ensure the disaster would not be repeated.
However, it was repeated on January 26 in Moonee Ponds, leaving a hole in the road 10 metres in diameter and 15 metres deep. In response, a five-year plan for sewer replacement has been brought forward and is expected to cost up to $40 million. Emergency upgrading is also needed because older parts of the system were in a worse state than previously thought.
One of the reasons for the state of the sewer system is that essential maintenance programs were scaled down over the past 10 years. There has been a constant reduction in capital works on sewerage maintenance. Yet Melbourne Water made an operating profit of $134.7 million last year.
Sewerage systems have also not kept up with sprawling outer suburban development. In April 1992, the Yarra River's upper reaches and tributaries were found to be so badly polluted that in some cases bacteria were being measured at thousands of times the official safe standard. Water in the Upper Yarra is often used for drinking, and parts of the river and its tributaries are also popular fishing areas.
At the same time as this environmental disaster is occurring, the state Liberal government plans to drastically change the Environmental Protection Authority and other government agencies so that they put the concerns of business at the top of their agendas. The government wants to review the standards enforced by the EPA, which many environmental groups believe are not strong enough now, to take into account their impact on investment and the needs of business. The sewer collapses have renewed public discussion about alternatives to the current system of sewage disposal, including using part of sewage for fertiliser in agriculture or for energy generation.
However, the management of Melbourne Water and the Kennett government have a different agenda. They want to privatise Melbourne Water and introduce more "user pays". Knipe says privatisation in one form or another is his major priority, and he is proceeding with a job shedding program. Some 4000 jobs have been axed since 1988-89, and 1000 more are due to go in this program to make Melbourne Water more profitable.