Sewerage plan panned

A $1.7m funding pledge to upgrade Palm Island’s overburdened sewerage system – 80 per cent of which isn’t working properly – barely scrapes the surface of what it needs to avoid a community health risk, says the mayor.

The state government has revealed it will commit $2.1m to upgrade water infrastructure on Palm Island, $427,000 of which will be used to purchase two generators to supply backup power for the island’s water treatment plant.

It comes after residents on Palm Island were almost left without access to water when a severe storm earlier this year cut their power for two days.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the new upgrades would ensure island residents had access to clean water even if the power goes out.

He said an additional $1.7m would also be handed out to construct new inlets for the Palm Island sewerage treatment plant to allow for more capacity during wet weather events.

However, Palm Island Mayor Mislam Sam said these works would “only scratch the surface” of what was really needed to bring the island’s ageing, overburdened sewage network up to scratch.

He said its current sewage treatment plant only had a capacity to treat 0.8ML of waste a day, which was well below the island’s current daily average output of 1.4ML.

“It cannot effectively treat the level of the stuff going through each day, which is why we’re asking for additional dollars to bring it up to an acceptable standard,” Mr Sam said.

“We recently put CCTV all through the sewerage network, which is well over 50 years old and full of asbestos, and found that 80 per cent of the network isn’t working appropriately and needs to be replaced. “Some of that was due to blockages, erosion and broken and misaligned pipes that were found right across the board.”

Mr Sam said the Palm Island council had also submitted four other applications to the state government seeking about $7m in funding for the total upgrade of the sewerage treatment plant and system network.

“We need to make sure we’re delivering the infrastructure that’s needed for the demands of our population and making sure that community health is up to an acceptable standard, so no risks do arise,” he said.

“In 2012, we went through a process in which all these new homes were being built, and the issue was raised yes, we can chuck new homes on the grid, but the water and sewerage treatment plants weren’t up to an acceptable standard.”

Funding for the water infrastructure project on Palm Island will be a part of the state government’s $86m Local Government Grants and Subsidies Program.

Projects can commence from July 1, 2022, and must be delivered by June 30, 2024.