2016-07-12 - Item 14 - Att 1 - Effluent Disposal Planning Study

Within the Rural and Rural Residential Zones there are over 6,000 privately owned properties
ranging in size from under 1 hectare to over 80 hectares. Houses are or can be built on these
properties. Extensive urban areas are zoned Detached Housing but it is the unsewered towns and
villages that are of relevance to this study. In Cooran, Kin Kin and Boreen Point there are
hundreds more privately owned properties that rely on onsite effluent disposal for houses and other
forms of development.

Unitywater has principal authority to plan future sewerage networks. Cooroy is fully sewered.
Most of Pomona is included in a current sewer connection scheme. The balance of the town’s
developable land is nominated by Unitywater as a future sewer connection area. Sewerage is not
found elsewhere outside of the coastal communities, except for the rural residential estate of Swift
Park at Cooroy and the settlements of Cooroibah and Noosa Banks, north-west of Tewantin.
Along with all the rural areas, Cooran, Kin Kin and Boreen Point are also without sewerage.
Unitywater has no endorsed plans to take sewerage to any of these towns.

In terms of future development potential outside sewered areas:-

            Future development opportunities in the unsewered areas amount to a few small
             pockets remaining in Cooran,
            Land included in the Rural Zone in almost all instances cannot be further subdivided,
             and
            No new areas of Rural Settlement land can be planned due to restrictions in the SEQ
             Regional Plan. There may be some limited subdivision potential in these rural
             settlement areas.

Planning Scheme Policy #24 – Effluent Disposal gives guidance to applications for development
that require the installation of on-site wastewater treatment systems.

The purpose of this Policy is to—

         a) ensure that where development is not served by reticulated sewage infrastructure,
            there is no adverse impact on ground and surface water quality, human health and
            amenity as a consequence of the on-site disposal of effluent;
         b) ensure that land use decisions favour the protection of ground and surface water
            quality where there is doubt regarding the likely impacts of on-site disposal of effluent;
            and
         c) provide guidance to the public, developers and Council staff to assist in assessing
            development applications.

Each effluent disposal system is required to be sited —

        a) at least 15m from any potable water supply tank;
        b) above the 1% AEP (1:100 ARI) flood level; and
        c) more than 40m horizontally from the level of the Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT)
(The Qld Plumbing & Wastewater Code in Table T5 also specifies setbacks to dwellings & recreation areas at 10m,
property boundaries and paths at 2m and swimming pools at 6m.)


5.2         Managing On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems in Noosa Shire
Council’s Building and Plumbing Branch has authority for oversight of on-site wastewater treatment
systems. They receive applications, undertake assessments, grant approvals, inspect premises
and maintain records. These responsibilities also cover conducting audits and responding to
individual site issues whether arising from audits, complaints or unsatisfactory maintenance
reports.


On-Site Effluent Disposal in Noosa Shire 2016                                                              Page 18