Region’s pipes cleaner than other parts of WA

The Mid West and Gascoyne are not as full of fat, grease, oil and non-flushable items as other regions, with recent waste-management upgrades halving blockages and making our pipes the smoothest in the State.

The Water Corporation only addressed 37 blockages — or 6.2 per 100km of wastewater — in the 2019-20 reporting period, a figure which has almost halved in the past three years.

The next best-performing region was the South West, which saw 112 blockages or 7.3 per 100km. The most congested area was the Goldfields, where there were 36.1 blockages per 100km of wastewater, or 117 in total.

Water Corporation Mid West regional manager Steve Greeve attributed the improved function to “comprehensive investigative and corrective work” undertaken in Geraldton.

“This includes the replacement of pipework that has experienced several failures, and the installation of remote monitoring equipment, which identifies critical levels in pipes before blockages occur,” he said.

As part of the maintenance, the corporation upgraded 3km of pressure main along Brand Highway, near Tarcoola Beach, and installed a new pump station on Glendinning Road.

“We have also increased proactive maintenance and cleaning cycles at some of our larger pump stations to avoid non-flushable items and other solids affecting the system,” Mr Greeve said. Of the region’s 37 blockages, 11 were caused by non-flushable items, like jewellery, tampons and paper towel.

Fat, oil and grease were behind another five.

Tree roots, sand and foreign items caused the remaining 21.

As a result, Mr Greeve is calling on residents to “think before they flush”. “Even items that are marketed as ‘flushable’ should not be flushed down the toilet,” he said. The only things that should be flushed are the 3Ps — pee, poo and (toilet) paper.”