The fire extensively damaged Charlotte Pass Village’s sewage treatment plant. Photo: F&R NSW.
The pressure is on for Charlotte Pass Snow Resort to come up with a solution to keep its season hopes alive after a fire at its sewage treatment plant.
The village is unable to process any wastewater from taps, showers or toilets as a result of the plant being offline, and it has remained closed to the public since the blaze on Friday, 17 May.
The treatment plant’s controls, pumps and plant automation were destroyed in the fire.
This week staff met with representatives from National Parks and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Planning, Housing & Infrastructure in efforts to find a way forward.
One wastewater expert has already assessed the infrastructure, and a second will carry out another review before the end of the week.
Resort chairman Kevin Blyton said they were investigating all potential options for the 2024 snow season.
“These include whether temporary services can be restored to the sections of the Sewerage Treatment Plant that were not impacted by the fire, the use of a temporary ‘package’ sewerage treatment plant for the snow season [and] whether effluent could be trucked off-site through the season and processed at an alternate facility,” he said.
While these seem like potential solutions, Mr Blyton was guarded about how feasible they truly were.
“I must caution that all of these potential options present significant challenges and may not be operationally feasible in the unique alpine region Charlotte Pass is located in, as well as the short timeframe before the commencement of the 2024 snow season,” he said.
“Charlotte Pass will only progress with a solution where it can be confident in ensuring it can minimise any risk to the sensitive alpine environment the resort operates in.”
The resort has been doing work to develop a permanent sewerage solution for the 2025 snow season onwards.
Another update is expected on Friday (24 May).
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