The Environmental Protection Authority, EPA, has issued the landowner of the former Kilmore East tip with an environmental action notice in regards to leachate discharging into a nearby creek.
Leachate is contaminated liquid that is generated from water percolating through a solid waste disposal site, accumulating contaminants, and moving into subsurface areas.
The EPA received a contaminated land notification that leachate was discharging from the premises in Wallders Road into an unnamed creek in April 2022.
EPA officers inspected the property in June 2022, obtaining water meter readings and surface water samples, and determined the leachate was discharging from the property as a result of exceeding leachate levels and lack of leachate management.
EPA then issued an improvement notice and environmental action notice in December 2022 to the property owners Dorro Downs, who then sought an internal review and a stay on both notices.
EPA granted a stay on the notices on January 5, 2023, and then revoked the improvement notice and varied the environmental action notice, EAN.
The amended EAN stipulates the property owner to install interim controls that prevent the leachate from discharging offsite and into the creek; engage a suitably qualified person to develop a leachate management plan and hydrogeological assessment to minimise the risk to human health and the environment; as well as report compliance updates to the EPA.
The matter is now before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, VCAT, with a practice day hearing set for March 23.
On Thursday, VCAT ordered a stay on the EAN and noted that Dorro Downs owner Paul Dorrington had engaged an environmental auditor to assess the property at the end of March and indicated he would implement interim controls based on the results of the assessment.
VCAT has directed Mitchell Shire Council to file a statement of grounds by Thursday.
A formal hearing has been set for July 4-6.
