Wake up Joondalup

The true figure has just leaked out.

As per the City of Perth’s (CoP) agenda, the MRC’s estimate of leachate in Stage 2 of Tamala Park has jumped from 417 million litres to 2.07 billion litres.

That’s enough bin juice to fill two Optus Stadiums from the playing surface all the way up to the full 42-metre height of the building.

By my accounting, using 20×12,000-litre tankers a day, five days a week, it would take 33 years just to remove what’s currently in there. 172,500 full tanker loads.

And that’s assuming there’s somewhere willing and able to accept and treat 240,000 litres of leachate every weekday… and that it stops raining in the meantime, of course.

The CoP report goes on to say: “The 2025 assessment identified off-site treatment scenarios ranging from tens of millions to more than $1 billion for the earlier 417,398 m³ volume.”

Have we seen enough now? Can we get the grown-ups to step in and sort this out finally?

Because while we contemplate the sheer scale of the clean-up ahead, the MRC has called two Special Council Meetings tonight.

One of them is about “Protective Appeals”. So, in the face of learning the scale of the leachate problem, are the MRC seriously considering appealing DWER’s regulatory action rather than focusing on how to close the tip and clean up the mess?

The other appears to concern the Waste to Energy Contracts member councils have been squabbling over. Are they still considering diverting their waste to Waste to Energy, in the midst of this mess? With less waste going into the landfill, it will surely take longer to reach the final profile required for capping and closure. How does that help?

Talk about fiddling while Rome stinks!

Perhaps these items are actually far more sensible than their titles make them sound. But since the reports are confidential, we’ll just have to wait and see what decisions emerge from tonight’s meetings.

Because right now, MRC looks like it’s up to its neck in it.

#wakeupjoondalup