Alan Dickens, Brunswick Heads
The article ‘Mullumbimby’s water supply under review’ (January 22) raises some interesting questions for Byron Shire Council (BSC).
The issue of waste water treatment plants supplying reuse has been discussed since the mid-eighties by BSC. How far advanced is BSC? Basically nowhere.
Associate Professor Peter Coombes states BSC should be apply a mix of measures to make the best use of stormwater runoff and effluent reuse from wastewater treatment plants.
Unfortunately, since 2002 BSC has failed to make any inroads or any substantial efforts to harness stormwater or to expand what was meant to be a substantial effluent reuse program.
BSC has completely dropped the ball on reuse. It is a damning comparison when you compare the Ballina Shire Council’s reuse program to Byron’s.
Ballina has urban and rural reuse. What does Byron have? Basically nil.
BSC should be leading the way on reuse, but instead it is still trying to solve the stormwater infiltration problem into the Mullumbimby sewer gravity mains which has been under investigation since the early nineties.
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. 
