THE quality of water being discharged through the sewage outfall at Gunnamatta will drop this week while Melbourne Water works on its latest treatment equipment. The 350 million litres a day discharge will be Class C, below the purity that has been pumped into the ocean since new processes came on line in July. “A three- to four-day shutdown of the new advanced tertiary treatment stage at ETP [Eastern Treatment Plant, near Carrum] is required in November to undertake important works on site,” general manager of asset planning Paul Pretto said. He said the plant’s $418 million upgrade was “nearing…
Day: December 1, 2012
MORE than 300 teachers rallied outside the McCrae office of Education Minister and Nepean MP Martin Dixon on Wednesday. The McCrae Plaza shopping centre car park was turned into a sea of red clothing and banners as teachers and support staff vented their disappointment at the standoff between the teachers’ union and the Baillieu government. Australian Education Union members are targeting state government MPs as part of the “Keep the Promise” campaign, which refers to Premier Ted Baillieu’s claim made before the November 2010 election to make Victorian teachers “the best paid teachers in Australia”. The morning rally was part…
TWO abalone poachers from the peninsula have been given prison sentences for trafficking a commercial quantity of the endangered shellfish. Last Friday in the County Court, Judge Mark Dean jailed Andrew Carpmael, 49, of Rosebud for 18 months with a minimum of nine months. Simon Hillman, of Rye, received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years. Each man pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking a commercial quantity of abalone. The judge also banned the pair from having commercial abalone equipment, Carpmael for 10 years and Hillman for three. Hillman, a professional diver who works at Peninsula Hot Springs near…