By Brendan Rees
Winsome Anderson has never known her stock water dam at her farm to turn green in all her time.
After a heavy downpour on 14 February, Ms Anderson said “clay coloured” flood water had “cascaded” into her paddocks from the Hampton Park tip on Hallam Road.
“It was coming down like a waterfall and that flowed directly into the stock water dam which we haven’t been able to use for weeks because it turned green,” she said, adding she had never seen anything like it since acquiring the land in 1961.
“We have had to lock the cattle away … we had tests done, it says it was very high in E.Coli.
“It has left silt on pasture on our area of our land where the power transmission line goes through”.
Ms Anderson, who has had to deal with rubbish escaping the litter screens and landing on her paddocks, said she had made many complaints which seemed to fall on death ears.
“The industry rules simply say … no dust, no odour, no litter beyond the boundary fence, and no runoff unless it’s being tested.
“Well where is this runoff coming onto our property being tested?” she said.
Suez infrastructure manager for Victoria Andrew Carson said the landfill site followed “strict procedures” to protect staff, contractors and other personnel onsite during severe weather events.
“Following procedure on Friday, 14 February 2020, SUEZ suspended operations at Hallam Road Landfill until the electrical storm which impacted the area had passed,” he said.
“Rainwater is carefully managed onsite and adheres to site’s Environmental Management Plan”.
Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) said it was aware of stormwater runoff from the Hampton Park Landfill site, including the incident on Friday, 14 February.
“EPA has been working with the landfill operator on stormwater issues, inspects the site on a regular basis and currently has a Pollution Abatement Notice in force, that requires the operator to develop and put into action a stormwater management plan designed to resolve any issues with runoff,” EPA Regional Manager for Southern Metro, Marleen Mathias said.
The Suez Recycling and Recovery site, which is as close as 100 metres away from homes, has been served with fines by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) with the most recent in February this year for breaching a licence condition that it must prevent offsite odours.
Residents in Hampton Park, Lynbrook, Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Cranbourne North and Narre Warren South area have been reporting strong odours around the landfill for several years.
