All of the residents in Amesbury are forced to use septic tank systems which are costly to run and require the residents to pay council yearly fees to operate even though properties in the neighboring suburb of Wattle Hill and across the channel are connected to the main sewerage line.

According to Peter Mooney who lives on Muscat Street, many attempts by residents have been made over the years to have Amesbury connected to the main sewerage line however the response from council has been underwhelming.

"Residents like myself have been chasing the council up for years and years about getting connected to the sewerage and we have routinely had our complaints shuffled around to different councillors, all whilst having to keep restarting the process over again," Mr Mooney said.

"They just don't seem interesting in helping us enact real change here,"

Mr Mooney said recent complaints to council have fallen on deaf ears and the most recent survey that was sent out regarding this issue was around 15 years ago.

"Another excuse we have heard from council as to why Amesbury has not been connected is that they don't know how many properties use septic tanks," Mr Mooney said.

"This can't be the real reason though as they come out and do inspections which we have to pay for every year of the septic tank systems so they would have a number down on the books somewhere I am sure."

These are sentiments shared by Tom Thompson, a former Leeton council worker, who also resides in Amesbury on Blakely Street and believes that the council should be doing more to address this issue than they currently are.

"Town water came out this way about 42 years ago and really we should have been connected to the sewerage line at the same time," Mr Thompson said.

READ MORE

'Where town water goes sewerage should go."

According to Mr Thompson, the ideal scenario would see Amesbury hooked up to the sewerage line in Wamoon, a small village outside of Leeton.

"I just want the council to make genuine plans to look into for us. We are surrounded by sewerage lines but have none of our own," Mr Thompson said.

"For the health and happiness of everyone we need access to sewerage," Mr Mooney said.

Council however does not have any current plans to do so.

"The Leeton Shire Council does not currently plan to connect Amesbury to the Wamoon Sewerage network which is a higher priority as the block sizes at Wamoon are too small for septic systems," council general manager Jackie Kruger said.

"That said, once investigations for Amesbury are completed next financial year, council will determine risk and priority levels for servicing the area."

Member for Murray Helen Dalton said that it was appalling that there were Leeton residents without a proper sewerage system.

"We are not a third world country," Mrs Dalton said.

"I have spoken to Peter Mooney about this and it really doesn't seem it would be that difficult or costly to connect these properties, especially given the neighbouring suburb Wattle Hill is connected."

Leeton mayor Paul Maytom said a sewerage servicing strategy will occur next year however the first focus will be on the smaller lots which will, once identified, be prioritised for funding to connect to the sewerage system.

Suburbs like Amesbury with larger lots that have room for onsite sewerage systems will have to wait their turn.

"Unfortunately at the moment Amesbury would not attract any government funding," Cr Maytom said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: