Andra Jackson
AS THEY perch on their surfboards waiting to catch a wave, Wonthaggi surfers enjoy a sweeping view of a pristine beach and coastline where native flora and fauna thrive.
But last week’s announcement that a desalination plant is to be located on a 20-hectare site on the Bass Coast between Kilcunda and Wonthaggi, has them looking over their shoulders to where a pipeline will deposit its salty waste.
Steve Cousins, owner of Wonthaggi’s Vortex Surf and Skate shop and a Bass Coast Boardriders member, is worried. “If they are pumping the salt back into the water off those beaches, obviously without a great deal of research involved, there is a real threat that we are going to over-salt the water leading into those beaches,” he said.
Much is unknown about the environmental impact of the $3.1 billion plant to be built by 2011. An environmental impact analysis has yet to be done. But it is not just surfers who are worried. Bass Shire’s council chief executive Allan Bawden notes: “The whole coastline is valued for its natural environment, its coastal areas, the dune areas, its Crown land with natural vegetation, and its marine environment from Phillip Island through to Bunurong Marine Park.”
The dispersal of salinity waste is a big local concern given the proposed site’s proximity to