What is the history behind the pump-out subsidy scheme?
It started in the early 1990s as a stop-gap measure to assist residents with the high cost of pumping out their septic tanks until the promised extensions of the mains sewer were completed.
The residents were told in July 2014 their septic pump-out subsidies would be removed. Many started extreme water conservation measures to avoid expensive fees such as a potential $75,000 connection to a sewer line.
The Liberal government had a change of heart before the election last year after lengthy petitioning by residents and a Labor promise to reinstate the subsidy.
At the time a spokesman for the former member for Blue Mountains, Roza Sage, said “the NSW government has listened to the people of the Mountains and is offering a hand-up for residents to fund a permanent sewerage solution, or ongoing support for property owners to fund the high costs of septic tank pump-out," adding that the finer details were still being worked out but the "reinstatement was indefinite".
With half of the 72 affected households still having problems, NSW Lands and Water Minister Niall Blair said: “Let’s not forget that these issues have been facing these households for a number of decades but it is this government that is addressing these issues once and for all.”
After the Gazette raised the matter with the minister Ms Doyle received a response back from his office after having been “ignored”.
One Linden resident, single mother Jane Grundy, said she was sick of paying commercial rates of “$220 every three weeks for shit” and “of the bullshit from the government departments”.
I'm sick of paying all this money for shit as well as the bullshit from the government.
- Jane Grundy
Ms Grundy backs onto national park and said she will need to potentially pay $34,000 for the right system. “I’ll need to take out another mortgage.”