Wulguru residents demand answers from Townsville City Council on sewage problem

Months after the ‘poonami’ wave of sewage swept through Wulguru, struggling residents are yet to hear about a fix for the pungent problem but the council says it has a plan.

Much like the raw sewage plaguing their properties, frustration is bubbling up and overflowing for Wulguru residents who accused the Townsville City Council of keeping them in the dark about plans to fix the chronic “poonami” problem.

When Townsville was inundated by February’s record rainfall event, the Giudes family’s Wulguru property was one of the worst affected, suffering through stench and sickness as a river of sewage swept through, doing an estimated $50,000 in damage, which was left to languish for weeks.

Sewage overflow victim Brittany Giudes at her Wulguru home. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The “exhausted” mother-of-four eventually took matters into her own hands by cleaning up the mess to avoid having the rooms sit in sewage for another three weeks.

“No one would touch it while there was active sewage flowing. My insurance then got people in to disinfect and to strip all the tiles and everything else out, but they need to do another (treatment), because when we got that other lot of rain (four weeks ago), it’s come back up again,” Ms Giudes said.

“We’re also now finding because of that backflow valve, how it was raining and spitting on the weekend, that it instantly fills our drains up.

Inside Wulguru resident Brittany Giudes' property, where raw sewage has flowed through for the past 11 days. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“We’re actually having to monitor the weather, and even had to give our kids their night-time showers at two o’clock the other day because of the rain that was coming, because we just cannot use any plumbing in our house.”

With their backyard and multiple rooms still out of commission, the family was rolling the dice in our crime-plagued city by operating a washer and dryer in front of their house.

Brittany Giudes' Wulguru property has had raw sewage and toilet paper flow through for the past 11 days. Picture: Leighton Smith.

While local councillor Brady Ellis had called to check in, she said Dawson MP Andrew Willcox and Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole were championing her cause with Townsville City Council, but the council was two weeks past a deadline to provide a date when it would speak to residents.

Having heard nothing from the council, frustrated Poonami Army founder Leanne Dobbin said impacted residents should be provided with counselling services to address the damage to their physical and mental health.

“One family that we know of, has packed up and moved after putting up with poonamis for the past six plus years. They just couldn’t deal with it any more,” Ms Dobbin said.

Poonami Army leader Leanne Dobbin has an array of equipment to deal with sewage flooding at her property. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“We have so many elderly (and families) living in Wulguru that are having to deal with sewerage issues … and the council can’t be bothered to hold a community information meeting.

“We want to know what the plan is to fix the Wulguru sewerage system and we want community engagement. If the issues aren’t fixed before the next wet season we want a plan developed to assist people who are sewage inundated.”

Leanne Dobbin was one of many Wulguru residents to experience a sewage ‘poonami’ when the rain comes. Picture: Evan Morgan

If the council couldn’t afford to fix the problem, she said they should be “down on hands and knees begging” the state and federal government for assistance.

Asked about the communication breakdown, a Townsville City Council spokeswoman said they were committed to engaging with the community on the upcoming works and would update residents on the progress as information became available to share.

Over the next few months the council will investigate the causes of high inflows to Wulguru’s sewerage system, as well as review and optimise pump station operations based on analysis of recent wet weather events.

TCC Water and Resource Recovery general manager Travis Richards praised Wulguru residents for their cooperation with smoke testing. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“Council is progressing plans for a two-stage upgrade to the gravity sewer network which services about 250 properties at Wulguru. This proposed upgrade includes increasing the size and capacity of the sewer pipe along Wright St and extending it to connect to a larger trunk main adjacent to Edison St,” she said.

Sewage overflow victim Brittany Giudes at her Wulguru home. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“In April this year, council submitted a request for 50/50 funding through Round 3 of the Queensland Government’s Disaster Ready Fund. Council is seeking more than $3.6m in funding to enable the works to proceed.

“The current project cost estimate is above $7m. In addition, council has started engagement with key stakeholders regarding pipeline alignments and future works.”

Originally published as Wulguru residents demand answers from Townsville City Council on sewage problem