Environmental Threat to Great Sandy Straits Marine Park, Mary River and Hervey Bay
The proposed “Turtle Cove Haven Retirement Village” has not been well publicized by the developer. This proposed development is to be built on the vacant land between the existing Turtle Cove residences and the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar Wetland and the Great Sandy Marine Park.
The following is an extract from the developer’s proposal;
• A village town square with convenience shops and a Medical Precinct.
• High Care facility for 120 residents.
• Hotel for Visitors & Tourists.
• 500 Independent Living Units relocatable homes.
• An up to 10 megawatt Solar Power Station capable of supplying 3700 houses annual energy needs to be determined.
• Additional commercial space to allow for a coffee shop / florist and other associated uses.
• Long term storage for boats, caravans, Recreational Vehicles’s etc.
• Hotel for Visitors & Tourists.
• A stand-alone Sewage Treatment Plant with the daily peak design capacity of 1500 Equivalent Persons (EP) (which by their own calculations, equates to 1,032,500 litres per day during peak wet weather flow).
In part the proposal states a 9 hole golf course. Apparently there will be no golf course due to concerns about run-off from the golf-course!
Some of the concerns many of the River Heads and Turtle Cove residents have and which will affect us fishos are noted below.
Please consider signing the Federal House of Representatives, E-Petition EN0487 to stop this development. A link can be found on the River Heads Progress Association web site. The E-petition closes 14 March.
1. The sewage treatment works is to be a containerized type system designed with quote “environmental release” of untreated sewage into the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar Wetland and the Great Sandy Marine Park if required. The treatment plant is located approximately 80 meters from the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar Wetland. The potential release of untreated sewage into the marine park should the plant cease to operate is obviously extremely hazardous to users of the marine park such as us fisher-persons, and catastrophic for the environment. Just imagine the possibility of using the lovely new ramp at River Heads with untreated sewage flowing past?
2. The risk to our marine park from the build-up of numerous pharmaceutical drugs which scientific tests around the world have shown cannot be removed from the treated sewage. The proposed development being a retire village with a high care unit for 120 residents and a medical centre will have a much higher than normal concentration of these drugs than normal suburban areas.
3. The risk to the environment by the use of “Bifenthrin” to control the midges which inhabit the proposed retirement village site. Numerous scientific surveys and tests around the world have shown that Bifenthrin is highly toxic to fish.
4. The risk to our marine park from general run-off from the gardens and driveways/roads of high density development located approximately 50 meters from the high tide mark, as well as run-off from the areas irrigated with the treated effluent.
5. The risk to our marine park from the disturbance of the existing Acid Sulfate soils during the construction stages.
6. Smell from the treatment plant and the 17 megalitre effluent storage lagoon.
7. The increase traffic on River Heads Road.
It is my understanding that almost every environmental and bird/wildlife group in our area and beyond are against the proposal.
If you are after more info check out the River Heads Progress Association web site.
Information on the proposal can also be found on https: //turtle-cove.com/page/. Please note that when reading Appendix P of the proposal, “Figure 3- Scheme process flow diagram” has been changed since the proposal was released for public comment and submitted to the Federal Environmental Department. The original flow chart showed an “Environmental release (Eastern Creak)” direct from the emergency storage facility, however in the revised chart this Environmental release has disappeared. The new chart does not show what happens to the sewage if the plant fails to operate for what-ever reason and the in-flow exceeds the treatment plant’s capacity. (The "emergency storage" would need approximately 26 shipping type containers to contain just 1 days peak sewage flow.)
Again, please consider signing the Federal House of Representatives, E-Petition EN0487 to stop this development. A link can be found on the River Heads Progress Association web site. The E-petition closes 14 March.
