EPA conference for Quantong plan
Victoria’s environmental watchdog has organised ‘an independently chaired community conference’ next week to discuss a proposed wastewater farm at Quantong.
Environment Protection Authority has pencilled in the gathering at Quantong Recreation Reserve on Wednesday from 7pm to 8.30pm.
The EPA is considering a works approval application from Water Sustainability Farm Pty Ltd for a facility in Lanes Road to take and treat trade waste from an Australian Plant Proteins plant in Horsham.
The authority has received 28 public submissions and has arranged the conference under section 20B of Environment Protection Act 1970.
It has invited people planning to attend the event to RSVP online at www. eventbrite.com.au/e/water-sustainabilityfarm-pty-ltd-20b-conference-tickets154496317645?aff=mediarelease by Monday.
Due to social-distancing requirements, organisers have capped registrations at 100 people.
The EPA has organised the conference – • For EPA to gain a better understanding of community concerns and issues that need to be considered; • To inform the public of the works approval application, the assessment process and its current statuses; and • To identify potential resolutions for any issues in the application.
After the conference, the independent chair will prepare a report summarising discussions and concerns raised and make recommendations for consideration by EPA and the applicant.
The conference report will be published on an Engage Victoria website, engage.vic.gov.au.
Under the Environment Protection Act, EPA decision-making on the works approval application must consider all views people raise in submissions and any recommendations directed to EPA in the report.
The EPA will send further details and the conference agenda to submitters and publish it on the Engage Victoria website when finalised.
Water Sustainability Farm, WSF, proposes to construct solar-drying evaporation basins and a sludge-drying pad for the processing of food manufacturing by-products.
The proposal involves the farm managing and treating two waste streams – with on average 57,000 litres a day of brine and up to five cubic metres a day of dewatered sludge – at the proposed facility.
WSF proposes to concentrate the brine through solar evaporation in four drying basins. It proposes the sludge be dried in windrows on a sludge-drying pad.
Proposals are to use the dried sludge, a form of organic compost, for agricultural purposes and to dispose of super-saline waste in landfill post-evaporation.
Works approvals are required for industrial and waste-management activities that have the potential for significant environmental impact.
A works approval allows for the installation of plant and equipment, the operation of which will result in one or more of – • The discharge of waste to the environment;
• An increase in, or alteration to, an existing discharge;
• A change in the way waste is treated or stored.
A copy of the works approval application can be viewed in the ‘supporting documents’ section online at engage.vic.gov. au/epa-works-approvals/water-sus.