***YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOUR HELP***

[DLRA]

This letter will be distributed to all members in the next couple of days.

Dear Member,

***YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOUR HELP***

To be able to run Speed Week in 2014 and onwards we need to make two extraordinary considerable purchases on the member’s behalf. One is a method to dispose of wastewater from the event and the other is a new radio communications system.

The South Australian Health Department, on instructions from their State Government demand immediate action on the disposal of toilet waste before the 2014 event. Regulations have changed and we are no longer permitted to use the old pit disposal site. We can either have a truck run in and out from Whyalla during the meeting to pump out the toilets, this will cost between $6,000.00 and $7,000.00 plus the cost of buying or hiring a storage tank or we can bite the bullet and spend $12,000.00 and be self sufficient.

The best long term option for wastewater is the purchase of an Aqua Nova Wastewater Treatment Plant for the disposal of the contents of our portable toilets at a cost of approximately $12,000.

There were a number of complaints about the radio system at the 2013 Speed Week. From these comments a new specification was drawn up of the equipment required. It is recognised that a new radio system will be much safer for competitors and should lead to more runs each day. We now have a quote of just over $14,000 for the purchase of this radio equipment.

The club is currently not in a financial position to cover these costs from our existing funds. A few members have already given to the Communications Fund and for that we are very grateful, but I am now asking those club members who are able for an INTEREST FREE LOAN of amounts from $200.00 or more to fund these projects. We are aiming to raise $20,000 through this process. We consider will need at least two successful meetings to build our cash reserves to repay the loaned.

WORKING BEE: There will be a working bee from 27-30th Dec 2013 to install the treatment plant. This will involve excavate the hole (back hoe provided) and install the system. Volunteers are needed urgently to carry out this work, please either reply on the forum or directly to Carol if you can volunteer your time and expertise.

We need an urgent response to this request as time is getting away from us, a decision must be made as soon as possible on which way we are going to go before we are able to run our next meeting at Lake Gairdner.

I emphasise that your funds are accepted as a LOAN to the DLRA and I will kick it off with $500.00, we only need another $19,500.0 and we should be covered!

HOW ABOUT GIVING THIS SOME SERIOUS THOUGHT AND ACT NOW!

Looking forward to your reply,
If you are in a position to support your club, please contact Carol on the above phone number or email.

Regards to all and thanks,

Cled – on behalf of committee.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is what the treatment plant looks like;


We will be purchasing 12 of these with mag base aerials, as well as some power supplies, a repeater and diplexer, and licences for 2 channels


And 2 of these for the start lines with the headsets below

[mal hewett]

The Vincent Racing team have passed the hat and will be putting $350 toward the comms and waste system . The purchase of the startline headsets will be a huge positive
for every racers safety .Lets help the club to help us !!!!!!!!!!

Regards Mal and the crew

[AuotonomousRX]

A must do thing

If Members can attend the Working Bee, what do they need to bring with them, as in food, water, Camping Gear etc?

Pete

[DLRA]

A must do thing

If Members can attend the Working Bee, what do they need to bring with them, as in food, water, Camping Gear etc?

Pete

I can confirm this but I'll say you need to be self sufficient, just as you would for Speed Week.

[Cookey]

Post deleted in the interest of keeping the peace!

[DLRA]

Whilst I understand fully the need for the upgrade of communications and have made a financial commitment towards that fund many many months ago, it dismays me that it has taken a directive from the health and sanitation authorities to clean up our act when the committee has been lobbied from within its membership for some years now that this particular issue will "bite us on the bum" unless we take the initiative and do something proactive!
It was swept under the carpet as not being deemed important enough and now we all are expected to pay in order to be able to use the lake in the future.
What choice do we have???

G'Day Tony,
Couple of points;
1. I don't mind people commenting on things that I may or may not have done, that's fair cop. But it is extremely difficult for me to comment upon things that I'm not aware of or happened "before my time". I've been around the committee for a few years now and can't remember anyone raising the issue of wastewater management before. I'd be very interested if you could produce some minutes or documentation to back this up. How long ago was this swept under the carpet? What suggestions were made and what meetings were these concerns discussed at? Are any of these ideas from the members still applicable to our current predicament?

2. Your interpretation of the facts is a little bit different to mine.
Firstly the DLRA has always acted within the Acts and Regulations as provided by the DWENR (formerly DEH) and the Department of Health. This can be borne out by the fact that we are now enjoying our 23rd year at lake Gairdner at the approval and permission of all interested parties.
Secondly the Dept of Health South Australian Public Health (Wastewater) Regulations 2013 changed in July of this year and it was this change that meant we could no longer use the pit method for disposal of wastewater.

There was no breach detected or directive served on the DLRA by DWENR or Dept of Health in 2013 or any other year for that matter.

Since the DLRA committee was made aware of the implementation of the new regulations the committee have been in consultation with the Department of Health as to what our options are and what is the best method of moving forward and complying with the new regulations. There was no benefit in alerting the membership until we knew exactly what requirements were being place upon us. Which leads us to the topic of this post.

[GeeTee]

I've kicked in and I hope all other intending 2014 participants do the same

Yes it may reduce the fun voucher count for a few weeks - especially coming into Xmas - but the amount being asked from all of us for this loan is only about one-fifth of my tow car's fuel bill for the event so no biggie in the grand scheme of things

It means we all get to keep racing in this special place

[project100]

I'm most happy to add to the fund but I need to ask a quick question regarding the sewerage treatment plant.
If the the DLRA is looking at a long term solution and investing in infrastructure at the lake then what guarantee does the DLRA receive from the National Parks, the South Australian Government, Mt. Ive Homestead and the indigenous land holders that the association will have use of the lake in the future?
Or is the plant transportable?
Just wondering.

[DLRA]

Short answer is there is no guarantee (as with most things in life), but if we continue to be good boys and girls and demonstrate respect for the place we will be allowed to continue to play for many years to come.

In August of this year new regulations were enacted under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. There is now a new Lake Gairdner Co-Management Board, made up of representatives from the aboriginal community and DEWNR. It will be this board that we make application for a permit to use the lake for 2014 and into the future. Our application will be before this organisation at it's first meeting on the 11th December for consideration. They are aware of our timelines and trying their best to get the application processed as soon as possible.

One of the requirements from last weeks meeting was the production of a "code of conduct". It was considered that the DLRA Operational Plan that was produced back in 2005 (thanks Wayne Mumford for all your hard work at that time) could serve this role but would require a new version, with additions, to be produced. It would definately be in our favour if this document could be presented with our permit application and that's exactly what I'm working on now.

Long term we are not just looking at infrastructure, but in building relationships, understandings and partnerships with our other stakeholders in this very special place.

Oh and to answer your second question, if it all did turn to s#*t, I suppose we could always just dig it up and cart it away.

[Rob Carroll]

As of Monday night at our committee meeting only 6 or 7 members had indicated their intention to attend the Working Bee. I am impressed with the response to the request for funds to buy the equipment we need for Speed Week to happen, but the Treatment Plant needs to be installed to get it operating. This cannot be left to a hand full of members. I would like to think we could work on the "Many hands make light work principle", then we won't have to be there a long time. I know it will be hot and that is exactly why we need more people to help. As mentioned above you will need to be self sufficient with food and drinks, fridges will be working and sleeping containers open, so no need to bring tents, just sleeping gear. No need to bring cooking gear as we can share what we have there. Please let us know if you can come out to help either by posting on here,call or email Carol or call me on (03) 5472 4370 to discuss anything further. Just remember " No Treatment Plant NO MEETING"

[OLDtimer]

You can count me in for a couple of days.
I assume that all soil tests have been completed & engineering requirements satisfied. It's damn near impossible to get that sort of thing done this time of year.
Hate to think we are going to dig a big hole only to be told we can't put anything in it.
Pete Noy
DLRA #6
SATA #3

[Cookey]

You can count me in for a couple of days.
I assume that all soil tests have been completed & engineering requirements satisfied. It's damn near impossible to get that sort of thing done this time of year.
Hate to think we are going to dig a big hole only to be told we can't put anything in it.
Pete Noy
DLRA #6
SATA #3

Good point Pete!
I have had a browse through the new 2013 S.A. Health On Site Waste Water Systems Code which came into force in April this year (I can send anyone a copy if you pm me) and it clearly states that there has to be extensive Civil Engineering and Geo-technical reports submitted in order to get approval to install any system.
I take it that this has all been done in accordance with the code.
Another concerning matter is what happens to the system after Speed-Week as the Aquanova operating manual states in bold type that " Once installed the system must never be turned off" and being familiar with this type of process, I quite frankly cant see how this can be done without running everything out and flushing it!!
The tanks will need to be kept full if they are to stay in the ground.

[boyracer]

If someone can give a lift there and back i can help with working bee. I'm in inner adelaide 'burbs.

what is the exact spec of the aqua nova.
This is from someone with lots of problemsolving experience in WWPT's.

.....I think you need a system that can be easily shut down and restarted. If it's abandoned, running, in the desert for 12 months and expected to run for a week once a year, I can only see a world of pain managing that system. Maintenance visits are going to be expensive too, I'd imagine.

How many people will be using the facilities attached to the system, and over how many days? Which Aquanova? I frankly doubt that a standard AquaNova (1200L/day, 560g BOD/day) will cope with that sort of load but perhaps they are suggesting one of the higher volume models like the 80202T (2000L/day, 700g BOD/day) or the EP40-SA (6000L/day, 2000g BOD/day). Not sure you can get those for $12k though...

For just a week with hundreds of people, I would have thought a holding system and collection might make more sense, but I'm not the government

The list of approved systems in SA is here: Approved Aerobic Wastewater treatment plants for SA (PDF)

I have the FujiClean on my shortlist, currently looking for other alternatives. FujiClean wouldn't have the capacity for the races though.

woodbe.

Read more: http://www.renovateforum.com/f194/new-w ... z2n2EBWvOj

[DLRA]

Thanks for the comments guys.
We have an officer from the Dept. of Health that I am in contact with and have been checking and double checking everything with him every step of the way.
We certainly won't be digging any holes unless we have a permit.
We do have a location and approval from the Newtons.
I have fully explained our unique circumstances to our supplier and he is confident that so long as the system is given a couple of days running prior to speed week for the bugs to grow that it is fine, and the intent is to use a generator for power and to turn the system off at the end of speed week. Proposal is to use a detachable hose with bobble head sprinklers to distribute the treated water.
As per the permit application 1000 people over 10 days, based on previous years we produce approx 15,000 litres of wastewater for the 10 days.

We did the sums on a holding system and transporting it to Whyalla for treatment.
We were told by Dept. of Health that we would have to have a 20,000 litre holding tank (in the ground). $6,000 for the tank, $4,500 to transport it and then $1400 per load to remove it. Also looked at the portable tanks as well, not that much better.

Looking at the sums, a holding tank is slightly cheaper, with higher ongoing costs. The treatment plant is a higher initial cost , but after that very low costs.

The permit application is all ready to go, we just need an engineer. to quote the Dept. of Health -
"need some info to confirm that the soil is capable of accepting surface irrigated secondary treated wastewater from a Geotechnical Engineer or Engineer. It does not need to be a full soil report just a signed statement from an engineer confirming soil acceptance of wastewater."

So far I have received quotes up to $5,000 to do this work and no one who can do it this side of Christmas. I've been chasing companies for the last week. If any one knows of someone who can help please let me know ASAP.

Boyracer - just had a look at your link, we aren't after toilets as such, just some way of dumping the waste from the 11 portable toilets we already have that are placed out on the salt.

Just spoke to Oziklean, not something they can do, but have given me a store and cart contractor to try and I've just spoken to him.

[boyracer]

Yeah, know you don't need more thunderboxes. The link was to a thread about trails and tribulations of WWPT's. Poster woodbe seems quite learned in the ways of the poo.