Residents gain drain funding

By Melissa Meehan
TOORADIN residents are starting to gain ground in their uphill battle to repair the town’s drainage problem with the council making plans to fund a study of the drainage systems.
The City of Casey last month agreed to allocate funding in the 08-09 budget for the development of an integrated water management plan and functional design of an urban storm water system in Tooradin.
The cost to develop the water management plan and functional design is estimated at $75,000.
Tooradin’s open drains have been a cause for concern for residents over the past 20 years.
Residents of Harewood Street claim that there is nowhere for the collected rain water to go, leaving stagnant water to become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and a ‘death trap’ for young children.
Calls made to the council by the residents to fill the drains had been unanswered until last month when the council accepted in a report to councillors at its meeting on Tuesday 18 September that it did have responsibility for providing drainage infrastructure.
Mayor Colin Butler welcomed the decision to allocate funds for the study of the town’s drainage problems.
“The drainage situation in Tooradin is a cause for concern,” Cr Butler said.
He described the move as a step forward for the residents of Harewood Street who petitioned the council.
Cr Butler said the study would seek to determine measures that both the council and residents can put in place to alleviate problems faced with the current drainage system.
“The residents I have spoken to so far are very happy that we are allocating funding for the study,” Cr Butler said.
Infrastructure projects are traditionally funded by special charge schemes but the council believes that by developing the drainage system with a water management plan there is potential to attract funding from other authorities.
The council also believes the drainage system would increase Tooradins’s infill development potential by reducing demand on the sewerage system.
Cr Butler said the residents handed in the petition to the council knowing that the final report may call for them to fund part of the proposed drainage system through the special charge scheme.