Effluent disposal options for small riparian settlements
A three-year, National Landcare Programme funded investigation was undertaken by UWRG on behalf of the Murray Darling Association for Conservation and Sustainable Development. The several aims of the study have been :
- to examine methods for assessing the level of public health and environmental risk associated with present on-site wastewater disposal practices within the River Murray floodplain
- to assess the risk attributable to present on-site practices at selected settlements
- to investigate means for improving effluent disposal practices
- to suggest suitable small-scale treatment and disposal technologies and practices which may prove more suitable for use in the Flood Plain than conventional methods
The project was initiated in 1995, and was completed in January 1998. Risk-assessment related information has been collected for various small River Murray settlements located within the reach Morgan to Mannum (South Australia). Field data included :
- River bacteriological surveys
- Site soil texture and structure
- Soil hydraulic conductivity
- Groundwater table surveys
- Groundwater bacteriological and chemical quality adjacent on-site wastewater systems
- Groundwater temperature
- Site usage and management information
Draft documents were released in April 1997 for comment prior to release of the final report in January 1998. A literature review and discussion of field data, as it relates to current site risk, is included in Document 1: "Assessment of Current Public Health and Environmental Risk". The second report, "Small-Scale Wastewater Treatment/Disposal Options and Management Practices" discusses selected on-site system technologies alongside other issues, including a risk-assessment-based approach to determining wastewater system setback distances from the River or other watercourses.
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission, among others, reviewed both reports in draft and commended UWRG for the thoroughness of the investigation.