A drain on us: locals

By Bridget Cook
WHILE last week’s floods affected many properties, waterlogged and unusable land are a common occurrence for some residents in Tooradin.
For a long time, property owners in Langtree and McCulloch Roads have been pushing the city of Casey council to fix inadequate drainage systems in their area – with no action taken.
The issue came to a head on Friday when most properties in the area were completely under water.
Jim Bailey, who has lived on his farm since 1966, said while he believed the inadequate drainage problems were caused by the original developers who sub-divided the land, Casey council now needed to expect responsibly and take action.
“About 1990, the land behind me (on Langtree Road) was subdivided and developed,” he said.
Mr Bailey said the developers approached him to contribute money towards putting in a road as it would also benefit him.
He said he agreed on one condition – that adequate drainage be provided by the developers for the run-off from the road and new properties.
“When the road was constructed, nothing was done about the drains,” he said..
“It has been a long time since the drains on the boundary of my property were cleaned.”
Mr Bailey said his late father contacted the then Shire of Cranbourne to notify them of the problem – but he never heard back.
“I believe why we are having these flood problems is because the original developer and the old Shire of Cranbourne did not heed our warning,” he said.
Mr Bailey said it previously hasn’t been a huge issue as there was many years of drought.
“Now we’ve had three wet years in a row, and a fair bit of my land has been completely inundated for that time, turning it into swamp land,” he said.
“This has really affected some of my liability.”
Mr Bailey said he, and many other residents, had contacted the council in the past but had not received much back until recently.
“I got a letter recently where the council said they accepted responsibly for the easement,” he said.
“But they said it would be at least two years away before they have the funds available to do something about it.
“I think it needs to be done sooner rather than later.”
Langtree Road resident Sophie Brooke said the letter stated council would need to survey the drains before anything could be done – which could take a few years.
“A good drainer would be able to come here with a laser level and have it done,” she said.
“Don’t need a survey to see which way the drains need to flow. It doesn’t take Einstein to figure it out.
“We could have someone come and do it ourselves, but what do we pay our rates for?”
Ms Brooke said the council needed to take action on their drains as soon as possible.
“If drains were cleaned out, sure we would have still got flooded, but we wouldn’t be looking at this water here all winter,” she said.
“If we had proper drainage, this wouldn’t be a problem.
“It’s time we got something back for the money we all put over.
“Waiting for three years to get drains dug out is ridiculous.”
City of Casey manager engineering David Richardson said the council does not maintain the rural open drains in the Langtree and McCulloch Roads area. “Councils do not typically maintain natural water courses and rural farm drains,” he said.
“Drains may have been constructed as part of the old subdivision of this area, and council will survey these drains to determine whether any maintenance works can occur.”