AS FARMERS expressed outrage about proposed overhead powerlines for the desalination plant, few people knew a large booster pump for the project was planned for the Cardinia township.
Not even Kevin Huxtable, the man who owns the land where the State Government is planning to build the station.
He only discovered the plans when he stumbled upon a small dot on a map – which turned out to be a 2.5-hectare parcel of land on his Cardinia property.
“They didn’t tell me,” Mr Huxtable said.
“The first contact I had with the plans I said ‘what’s that dot?’”
“It was only just a dot on a plan – it didn’t say anything.”
His next door neighbours, Phil Ellery and horse trainer Udyta Clarke have similar stories.
Mr Ellery said it was likely that the State Government would have to build an access road through his land, but was yet to hear it from the horse’s mouth. He wasn’t even told about the booster pump station.
“Off Cardinia Road and through my property is the most obvious access,” he said.
“I only found out the booster station was going there because of Catherine (Manning).
“I heard it from everyone else but them.”
Ms Clarke said residents were even more shocked – and outraged – when they discovered the pump station would be housed in a 94-metre long, 12-metre wide and 7-metre high shed built on 2.5 hectares of Mr Huxtable’s land.
“It started off as a spot on Kevin’s place which looked like a dog kennel,” Ms Clarke said.
“They (State Government) didn’t tell anyone the size the pump station was going to be, if they did there would’ve been uproar.”
Flora and fauna tests have been undertaken and two bore holes drilled on Mr Huxtable’s land but there has been no discussion of compensation.
Mr Huxtable stands to lose quality grazing land which has been in his family since 1928.
His mother, a self-funded retiree, relies on the income from cattle production on the property.
Cardinia residents are determined to get the State Government to find another site to put the pump station.
Mrs Manning, Ms Clarke and Cardinia Primary School principal Alan Armstrong met with key players in the desalination project last fortnight in a bid to get have the pump station relocated.
According to the projects Environmental Effects Statement (EES), the booster pump is required to provide additional pressure in the pipeline to deliver the required flow of treated water to Cardinia Reservoir.
A chemical dosing facility may also be required, and residents fear they won’t be consulted about that either.
The EES also states that the pump station needs to be built about 70km away from the desalination plant and that the location was chosen because it was relatively close to Cardinia Road and “far away as practicable from existing houses to reduce the risk of noise issues”.
But residents disagree, saying it’s too close to the township centre and the local primary school.
Mrs Manning was hopeful the State Government would find a more suitable site.
“On one hand I get the sense there is genuine understanding of our concerns, then on the other hand it would be too much trouble for them to go and assess another site,” she said.
“I ask them to do it (relocate the pump station) to protect our community and to get things right from a planning point of view.”
Residents are forming a Cardinia Township Committee to ensure reisdents are informed about future developments.
An initial gathering of interest will be held on Thursday 30 April, beginning at 7.30pm at the Cardinia Recreation Reserve.
For more details contact Catherine on 0417 355 644 or email catherinemanning@iinet.net.au
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