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The Byron Shire Echo • Volume 39 #09 • August 7, 2024 • www.echo.net.au
Ten million litres of water wasted a year in Byron Shire Paul Bibby Opening Council-related bills is rarely a pleasant experience, but when Ocean Shores resident Robert Birch opened his water bill a few months ago he got a particularly nasty surprise. The local man, who has a science background, discovered that his water bill had blown out massively without him increasing his water use in any way. Further investigation revealed that a concealed leak in the main line supplying his house had resulted in 800,000 litres of water pouring into the ground beneath his front yard over a two-year period.
With ongoing wet weather hiding any evidence of the leak at ground level, and Mr Birch’s prior water bills being paid via direct debit, he had no idea what was happening until a dry period in May finally brought a suspicious wet patch to his attention. A few days later, more than two years after the leak began, he received a notice of higher than usual water usage from Byron Council.
$2,800 water bill issued This notice was not accompanied by a waiver of the Mr Birch’s swollen water bills, which he now estimates to have totalled $2,800. This is on top of the cost of repairing the leak.
‘In following this up I discovered that there was no policy on concealed leaks [in the Byron Shire], in contrast to every other shire that I looked at in the surrounding area,’ Mr Birch told last week’s Byron Council meeting. ‘The practice of this Council seems to be to blame the residents for those leaks, even though the residents are entirely without fault and without negligence in that matter.’ And it seems Mr Birch is not alone. Doing some basic extrapolation, Mr Birch calculated that Byron Shire was wasting more than ten million litres of water each year at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars for ratepayers. ‘In my opinion it is irresponsible to waste tens of millions of litres of water each year,
Gold for tourism excellence
and unreasonable to expect locals to pay for leaks where they have no negligence or fault,’ he said. At last Thursday’s Council meeting, Greens councillor Duncan Dey moved that Council waive 50 per cent of Mr Birch’s May water bill and revise the process by which it issues a notice of higher than usual water usage so that residents are notified sooner. ‘We are the standout council in this area and quite different from Queensland in that we just don’t have a policy on undetected leaks,’ Cr Dey said. ‘I believe we should have. ‘Every council and water authority is doing its darndest to conserve water, and one of the ways of doing that is to detect leaks. ‘So what I’m asking for, in addition to waiving part of Mr Birch’s bill, is for Council to revise down the trigger for issuing a notice of higher than usual water usage, and adopt an approach similar to that used by electricity providers, including on bills a graph of the previous rolling five quarters of consumption. ‘I gather from the staff report that we don’t currently have a way of doing that. Well maybe it’s about time that we did. It’s 2024. We have computers that can do that kind of thing. I don’t think it’s a big ask.’ But Council staff, and a majority of councillors disagreed. In written notes responding to Cr Dey’s motion, Council’s manager of finance, corporate and community services, James Brickley, said that if Council waived the bill it would create a precedent for future leaks that Council would have to pay for or subsidise. ▶ Continued on page 5
Byron Mayor, AVO North Coast cultural Bundjalung tour operator Delta Kay won the Gold Award for Excellence in Cultural Tourism. Her company Explore Byron Bay Pty Ltd hosts tours and programs at Walgun (Cape Byron),
Candidates on affordable housing and environment ▶ p4
Bangalow and Broken Head. ‘I am so proud to represent Byron Bay alongside two other great winners: Byron Bay Bluesfest 2024 which won gold for Festival/Event of the Year, and gold for Excellence in Wellness
Valuable land in our hands ▶ p13
Tourism as well as silver for Excellence in Specialised Tourism; and Let’s Go Surfing who won silver for Tour and Transport Operator of the Year,’ she told The Echo. Photo Jeff Dawson
Meanwhile down at your local council ▶ p15
There is a matter listed at Byron Bay Local Court where the police are seeking an apprehended violence order against Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Baden Lyon. The case is listed for later this month.
What’s on this week? Better check the gigs in Seven ▶ p27
Creative folk and their artistic endeavours ▶ p30
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