Alan Dickens, Brunswick Heads
Duncan Dey’s statement in the article Cleaning up Mullumbimby (Echo September 18) bemuses me.
The conversation on inflow/ infiltration has been going on for twenty-five years.
For Mr Dey to now come out with the statement that gravity mains are the problem is a bit much. And to congratulate Council for endorsing another five-year investigation costing around $1,250 million, minimum, is astounding. The current investigations by Water and Recycling have been happening since 2002.
Mr Dey is a hydrologist I would like Duncan Dey to explain, after being involved in this issue for so long, how did you finally reach the conclusion that it is a deep infiltration problem?
Mr Dey remained silent when I was a member of the Waste Water Advisory Committee in 2017 and I repeatedly asked for evidence to show this was not a deep infiltration problem, due to the gravity mains being structurally unsound, and that during rain events the water table would rise above these mains; hence the sewer pumps were trying to lower the water table. Mr Dey remained silent throughout every meeting when this issue was raised.
Now the problem is obvious to Duncan Dey, it is a pity Mr Dey did not take notice of the facts in front of him twenty years ago, as nothing has changed in those twenty years.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
