Cableway controversy: Springbrook will need a waste treatment plant
The Springbrook cableway project could attract 580,000 visitors annually, but the problem of what to do with all their waste has raised its head.
Gold Coast
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The planned cableway at Springbrook will need either a waste treatment plant or huge storage tanks for trucks to take the sewage down the mountain, warn stakeholders.
Hinterland-based councillor Glenn Tozer said the Gold Coast’s mountain community does not have a waste treatment plant like the Kuranda cableway in north Queensland.
A prefeasibility study by Gold Coast City Council found a $170m cableway had potential to attract 580,000 passengers a year, provide 267 construction jobs, and 149 permanent positions during operation.
“So disposing of half a million visitors poop and wastewater will need a suitable solution. In Cairns, it gets processed and released into the Barron River before going out to sea,” Mr Tozer said.
“For Springbrook, maybe that sewage will be piped by digging up the ground through the conservation estate down to one of Council’s four treatment plants in the city.”
Mr Tozer suggested a future proponent could propose to build a new treatment plant but cautioned that council’s own upgrade at Merrimac was costing over $300m.
“Or maybe they’ll propose holding tanks and trucks to get rid of the waste water. In any case, any reasonable person can see there’ll be an impact of that disposal process on the environment,” he said.
Springbrook resident and environmental campaigner Ceris Ash said the only way to really deal with that much sewage would be to have large holding tanks with regular pump-outs.
“Springbrook is the main catchment for Hinze Dam. Council already do that at the toilet block at Apple Tree Park. Obviously it has a much smaller clientele,” she said.
Ms Ash said the other challenge was water which would either need to be carted up the mountain or have a bore.
“Any bore within the catchment of Purlingbrook Falls would be taking water away from the falls. The very falls they will be using for all their marketing,” she said.
Mr Tozer said Springbrook mountain feeds the catchment to the Coast’s water supply for the whole city at Little Nerang Dam and Hinze Dam.
“I know I’m not keen on treated human waste for half a million possible visitors to a Springbrook cableway infiltrating our water provision system,” he said.
“And the idea of enough trucks on Springbrook Road to move the wastewater down in tankers seems unnecessarily congesting on the roads to the Springbrook plateau.”
Mr Tozer said World Heritage status was not likely to withstand such a profound impact on environment, wildlife, water quality and vegetation.
When a proponent surfaces and provides solutions, at their own cost, the City could provide more scrutiny of the impact, he said.
“Or whether we’re okay with digging up the ground to pipe it, or truck it, down to our existing treatment plants. Frankly, considering these challenges, I just think there are better investments for eco-tourism that should be promoted in lieu of the cableway,” he said.
The project earlier this month gained the green light by a native title group that says it will be assessing most of the cultural heritage along the route.
Negotiations between the Gold Coast City Council and Jabree Ltd director Wesley Aird have resolved a long-running dispute about which First Nations group can make major project assessments on the Gold Coast.
Jabree is a local charity representing and wholly owned by the Gold Coast Native Group. Gaining First Nations support is the first step in council moving forward with the project.
Jabree produced mapping that claimed that Danggan Balun, which was undertaking assessments for the city, covered “only a minority of the Gold Coast”.
But in a recent post on social media Yugambeh Nation responded by saying Danggan Balun was the native title group for the Springbrook National Park.
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Originally published as Cableway controversy: Springbrook will need a waste treatment plant
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