Sewage spill woe hitting oysters

A SEWAGE spill at Pittwater over the weekend could impact some oyster farms, with one grower concerned the incident will affect his Christmas sales.

TasWater has alerted the Environment Protection Authority that the weekend deluge caused a release of sewage into Pittwater.

TasWater’s general manager of service delivery Bennie Smith said it was a one in 10 year rain event at Richmond and a one in five year event at Cambridge.

As of 5pm yesterday, monitoring had indicated the high rainfall was going to cause a partial bypass at the Cambridge Sewage Treatment Plant.

The Bilney St pump station at Richmond was so overwhelmed that, at one point, it was completely submerged in stormwater.

“We immediately alerted the EPA and other relevant stakeholders in the area including the oyster growers,” Mr Smith said.

While the overflows had ceased by yesterday morning, the sewerage spill has impacted at least one oyster grower at Pittwater.

Estuarine Oyster Company managing director Josh Poke said the spill had forced him to close until Christmas Day at the earliest.

He won’t know about the monetary cost until the New Year. Mr Poke said the event was a double blow because his oysters would be going through their reproductive cycle soon and their condition for sale would decline.

“Water quality due to recent events will mean we are unable to sell oysters for the next three weeks,” he said.

“Once the water is clear, it will only take a couple of days for the oysters to purge any bacteria.

“We will have to test oysters prior to reopening to ensure the oysters are safe for human consumption. This may have an impact on Christmas supplies, but is dependent on what other producers around the state have ready for harvest.”

TasWater crews were yesterday investigating any impact the rain had caused to pipes, pumps and treatment plants. Teams are also out sampling water in creeks and in the bay around the area.