Town:  Wallaga Lake, New South Wales

Location: 296 kilometres south west of Sydney situated next to Gulaga National Park

Population: 606

Client: Bega Valley Shire Council

Local Council: Bega Valley Shire Council

Year: 2006

Scope: Design for the installation of Pressure Sewer Equipment to individual residential properties and the set out of the reticulation network.

Environmental Factors: Wallaga Lake consist of three villages: Wallaga Lake Heights, Beauty Point and Fairhaven surrounding the largest lake in southern New South Wales. The area also has high cultural significance with local aboriginal middens and artefact findings. Due to soil conditions and a predominant holiday destination for boating and water sports, the existing onsite septic systems were failing to contain onsite with pollution entering the catchment of the lake system during busy tourist seasons.

PSSA Solution:  Provide in depth design consultations with the property owners including designing for peak periods with loadings that were 75% higher during these times. As the majority of property owners resided in Melbourne and Sydney it was difficult to arrange for the property owners to attend their properties to discuss the Pressure Sewer equipment locations. PSSA initiated an extensive correspondence program to allow input between the property owners and the designers. Plans and documents were faxed, emailed, sent by post and personally delivered to property owners for review, comment and final approval. Even though this approvals process was slow and often frustrating, it allowed the construction crews free access and certainty of the property owner’s requests.

Environmental Outcomes: After project completion the village enjoyed a vast improvement to the local water ways and immediate area with tourist season no longer being an issue with trying to manage septic onsite systems. This project removed 36.5 million litres of septic and greywater discharge from the environment per annum.