Residents living without being connected to the Coast’s water and sewer services are critical of a Council survey they were asked to complete, saying it is biased and misleading.
One said it was blatantly transparent in its attempt to persuade with emotive bias and coercive nudging.
Council sought feedback from the residents of 7500 properties across the Coast who use alternative options for water and sewer services.
These are typically rainwater tanks, private dams, bores and onsite sewerage management systems.
Council said it wanted to gauge their interest in being connected to the Council water and sewer system.
“The survey results will inform development of the Water and Sewer Masterplan and future investment in the water and sewer network,” Council said.
Some questions required respondents to rank the benefits of being connected.
There was no option to either skip or indicate that the respondent did not perceive there to be benefits.
“The intent of the survey was to secure sufficient data that may indicate that residents are in favour of such an expenditure regardless of their opinion,” another resident said.
“It must have either been written by an office junior or a seasoned expert wanting to elicit a pre-determined outcome.”
The resident said there were so many other projects that required investment that this one was not even worthy of consideration for the wait list.
“No local resident that I am aware of would either encourage Council to spend or contribute their own money to such a venture,” the resident said.
“There is no evidence that the current arrangement of rainwater harvest and envirocycle sewerage management are of any risk to humans, flora or fauna.
“In fact you might argue the converse, the recycling of water and human waste is a very 2024 thing benefiting the environment.
“We are required by Council to have our systems checked and serviced quarterly to ensure operation is as per requirements.”
Another resident said they would not be interested in sewer connection as they have lived on their property for 40 years and never had a problem.
“We do have water connected, the taste of the water is quite terrible and water filters are used,” the resident said.
“I do not think water connection would benefit people in the area as tank water is far more palatable.”
That resident, too, said there were other more urgent needs such as roads and drainage.
Another resident wondered if a change of zoning and increased rates from the change was Council’s motivation.
“I feel this is just a money grab by the Council,” the resident said.
“People on properties in the area have outlaid a lot extra when building, to set up their water and sewerage systems.
“We don’t need to then be forced to outlay large amounts to connect to these services we don’t have any use for.”
Another resident, based in Matcham, agreed saying it was a very clear signal of intent to rezone land for suburban development.
“We are (mostly) progressively returning this cleared land of our valleys to a densely vegetated rich biodiverse ecosystem,” the resident said.
“Everyone prefers rainwater – chemical free.”
Other arguments against connection were the cost involved including environmental destruction.
However, he said the population of on-site sewage management has grown significantly in the Matcham, Holgate valleys over the past 50 years so it was fair to say that the potential for sewage environment disaster was increasing.
The survey closed on February 14.
Results should come back to a Council meeting in the future.
Merilyn Vale
Have sewage management approval to operate on-site management system which is checked and have no problems with smell or ground water runoff. Logistically impossible to connect to sewer and financial impossible.