By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Greater Dandenong Council will share a $1.76 million bill to rebuild capping on a former landfill in parklands in Springvale South.
The repairs to the former Spring Valley Reserve tip are required to comply with an Environment Protection Authority-approved management plan.
They involve stripping part of the existing cover soils and adding additional clay layers, according to a council report.
Engineering services director Paul Kearsley told a 14 April council meeting that the cost was within the council’s recurrent budget and “essentially covered” by Monash, Bayside and Kingston councils.
According to past council documents, Greater Dandenong’s share of the landfill’s rehabilitation costs is 19.88 per cent. That would equate to about $350,000.
The councils disposed waste at the former sand quarry when it became a landfill operated by South Eastern Regional Waste Management Group (SERWMG) in 1993-’98.
The non-compliant capping dated back to the SERWMG operation, Mr Kearsley said.
It had reportedly worn down over time, leading to an EPA order for the council to reconstruct the cap in early 2019.
A master plan to develop Spring Valley Reserve was halted at the time.
Capping is designed to prevent waste contaminants leaching or leaking into the parklands, which include a stormwater retention basin.
Mr Kearsley told the council meeting that recent drainage and resurfacing works in the reserve related to a different landfill.
Greater Dandenong awarded the tender for the works to Winslow Constructors.
