The Tea Tree Gully Council in Adelaide will implement the Tea Tree Gully Sustainable Sewers Transition Plan following a unanimous decision to approve the plan.
The decision comes after the South Australian Government agreed to fund the entire cost of transitioning Community Wastewater Management System (CWMS) customers to the SA Water sewer system for stages 1 and 2.
This includes the cost of decommissioning the redundant CWMS network during these stages.
Tea Tree Gully Deputy Mayor, Lucas Jones, said, “Council is excited that the State Government has listened to its calls and taken its responsibility for the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage seriously.
“We welcome their commitment to starting work on the project straight away, something that Council has continuously supported.
“Council has advocated strongly with the Government and Opposition over the past five years to secure the upgrade and protect the interests of its ratepayers.
“We will continue to lobby the State Government to take over the whole CWMS network from 1 July 2022 in line with an Opposition commitment which will ensure all rate payers are paying the same service charge.”
Council’s independent CWMS Prudential Report and lobbying by Council-elected members and staff have played a critical role in getting to this point in the process.
“This decision allows us to sign an agreement with SA Water and move forward with the project,” Mr Jones said.
Council and SA Water will now negotiate the finer details of the Transition Management Agreement.
Stage 3 decommissioning costs have not been included in the agreement due to State Government budgetary processes, but both the Government and Opposition have indicated that they will fund the final stage of the Transition Plan.
“Council looks forward to working with SA Water and is excited by the prospect of properties in stage one of the Transition Plan starting to be transferred in the coming days,” Mr Jones said.
About 4,700 properties are currently not connected to the SA Water network.
