The Avoca Project

Composting toilet options

• Nature Loo approved for Victoria and is Australian Standards 1546.2 certified. Requires 1m underfloor clearance.
  Included in the standard Classic 1000 – 3 Package:
  • Ceramic warm white pedestal and timber seat.
  • 3 composting chambers (85 cm high x 80 cm maximum diameter).
  • Waste connecting chute (70 cm in length – can be cut by you to suit your requirements).
  • Ventilation system including 12 volt air fan and transformer.
  • Easy to follow installation and maintenance manual.
  • Trolley

  Price : $2,800 ex-Brisbane factory or $2650 without trolley

• Rota Loo approved by councils throughout Australia. The Rota-Loo is a non-flush compost toilet system developed in Australia, using an aerobic system, with rotating bins under the seat that can be easily removed. The liquid is evaporated through the heat generated by the sun absorbed on the back section of the toilet structure.
  Rota-Loo 950 with compost toilet, fibreglass pedestal, 90 cm waste chute, 240 Volt extractor fan, Wind driven turbo vent, PVC elbows, liquid level indicator and Bio stimulant. $3907.90
• The Clivus system is based on a ‘continuous’ composting process in one large chamber, as against multiple smaller chambers that require a restart of the process after emptying. As the organic material decomposes it will reduce in volume by up to 90%. The compost pile is therefore always ‘shrinking in the middle’ whilst new material is being added to the top, and finished compost is removed from the bottom of the pile when appropriate.
  Models suited for regular use start around $1650 for small residential Ecolet units, and range from around $3000 to over $8000 for our larger Clivus Multrumâ„¢ household and commercial units. (Delivery and installation not included)

Atlantis systems

• Rainwater harvesting tank system
• Section of retention and recycling tank
• Plan of storage system

Agent in Melbourne is Wayne Alexander from Southern Geosynthetics ph. 97197969
Reference site is a similar sized project 80,000 litres at Hampton Primary School
http://www.geosynthetics.com.au/news6-1.pdf

Photos of the project as follows:

• Overview of project
• Assembly
• Excavations

Estimated cost of tank installation

Estimate storage required is 90,000 litres
Supply of cells, fabric and plastic $200.00 per 1,000 litres (ex GST)
Estimated labour for assembly of cells 18 hours
Plumber @ $46.00 ph + GST
Excavator @ $90.00 ph + GST

Challenges to resolve

1. Design of overflow in event of flood
2. Tank location requires a hole deper than 1.5m. This raises the problem of insurance for workers and volunteers. Plumbers cover does not apply to holes deeper than 1.5m.

Overview of the catchment

The Pyrenees Shire is an extremely productive agricultural region covering an area of 3,500 square kilometres. The Shire takes its name from the ranges in the north named by Major Mitchell in 1836 as they reminded him of the Pyrenees in Europe.

It is renowned for its cereal and hay crops, wool, viticultural and forestry activity. Thirty percent of the work force is involved in agriculture, which produces commodities with a gross value in the range of $70m each year.

Most of the Pyrenees residents live in the two major towns of Avoca (1,000) and Beaufort (1,200). Both towns were established on gold but have reverted to service centres for the agricultural community. A number of smaller towns are dotted throughout the Shire all contributing to the wellbeing of the region.

Although the Avoca has a substantial 6900 square kilometres catchment area (the fifth largest in Victoria), most of that area is on the northern plains where rainfall averages only about 350 mm per year, and where there is little runoff as the terrain is very flat. Most of the water flowing in the Avoca originates in the narrow upper portion of the catchment area, where rainfall averages about 600 mm per year, most of it falling in the winter and spring.

Of all the Victorian rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin, the Avoca is the most variable. In theory, the average annual flow is 85,000 ml, however recorded actual flows have varied from almost five times the average figure in very wet years to 0.5% of the average in drought years. It is normal for the Avoca to stop flowing for weeks or months at a time during summer and autumn.

Although it is the only river of significance in the area, the Avoca has had no major water storages constructed on it, merely six weirs of only local significance.

It is little used for irrigation as during the peak demand period (summer and autumn) it is often not flowing at all. During low flow periods Avoca River water is usually too saline to water crops with, but can still provide drinking water for sheep and cattle.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoca_River

Salinity

The consequences of salinisation and rising saline watertables include:

• declining river water quality,
• loss of productive land,
• damage to roads and buildings,
• damage to conservation reserves and remnant vegetation, and
• increased flood risk.

Dryland salinity was first reported in Victoria in 1853 and irrigation salinity was noticed in the Kerang region in Victoria in the 1890s. The national increase in human induced salinity from 1982 to 1989 was 9 per cent per annum.

The desirable salinity limit for drinking water is 800 electrical conductivity units (EC). Within 20 years salinity levels of the Murray River at Morgan are predicted to exceed 800 EC 40 per cent of the time. Sixty per cent of this increase will be due to dryland sources (one quarter from outside the Mallee region).

In Victoria, the Avoca and Loddon Rivers already record salinities above 800 EC on a flow weighted basis and these could rise significantly by 2050.

Source: Research Note 22 1999-2000 Salt of the Basin-’Business as Usual’ is not a Viable Option by Bill McCormick Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group 14 December 1999 http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/RN/1999-2000/2000rn22.htm

Potential partners and local contacts

Press release: 15 July 2002 New Radar to Monitor Northeast Victoria’s Weather

Orchardists, farmers, tourists and the wider community will have access to the latest in weather technology following the unveiling today at Yarrawonga of a new radar by, Dr Sharman Stone, Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment and Heritage.

Dr Stone also presented Rainfall Excellence Awards to three families who have provided the Bureau with daily rainfall records for over 100 years. Mr Maurice Bandt of Redbank, 17km northwest of Avoca, accepted an award on behalf of the Bandt family who have provided rainfall data since 1897.

source: http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/ps/2002/psmr15july02.html

The National Action Plan (NAP) for Salinity and Water Quality identified 21 priority regions throughout Australia for addressing salinity and water quality. In Victoria, 94% of all area showing signs of salinity is located in NAP regions. 19% of farms in the Avoca-Loddon-Campaspe region showed signs of salinity (477 farms).

http://www.napswq.gov.au/about-nap.html

source http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/nsf/abs@.mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/ABF093CD7DE9D979CA256CD3007E01F7?OpenDocument

Rainfall trends

Avoca rainfall average 500mm (16inches) per year (source: Neville Colliier)

Neville Collier (plumber) has recommends 90,000 litres (20,000 gallons) based on projected demand

The average family house in Victoria uses 240,000 litres of water per annum.

Calculator:
http://www.polyworld.com.au/calculations.htm

Assumptions:

Roof area: 250sqm

Rainfall: 500mm

Max water collected annually: 125,000 litres

Avoca township has storage of 90 megalitres that is currently at 18.7% capacity with Permanent water saving rules.

Victoria is becoming progressively drier with up to 3 mm less rainfall per year.

Figures and graphs for Ballarat are available: Ballarat has now experienced its 9th consecutive year of below average rainfall, which according to rainfall records, is unprecedented. Ballarat’s rainfall year to date (YTD) is 283mm compared to the long term average of 388.7mm or 72% of average rainfall.

Source: Steven Carter – Central Highlands Water http://www.chw.net.au/water_storage.html

Steven Carter thinks that Brendan Clark (The Demand Managemnt Officer 53203264 would be interested in the project. He is also going to contact Don Rickerby about rainfall figures.

Ballarat figures accord with accepted trend of 33% less rainfall by 2035

Water savng targets are: 25% by 2015 and 30% by 2020

Weather News of August 1996 reported the discovery of a collection of 19th Century synoptic maps under a house in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Readers were invited to contact the Editor with any information. Don Linforth, retired STPM in Services Policy Branch, responded with the following tale of E. T. Quayle, the map collector.

E. T. Quayle was born in 1862 at Amphitheatre, near Avoca in Victoria.

Edwin Quayle (right) with three other generations of his family during World War I. On the left is his son and seated is his mother holding his grandson.

After graduating in Arts he taught at Horsham, then Joined the staff of the Melbourne Observatory in 1890. He became Observer and Computer, assisting generally with Observatory work. He transferred to the Commonwealth Bureau when it began operations In 1908. As a Fourth Assistant on a salary of £310, he was being paid £10 more than at the Observatory.

Early Research

In 1910 he bought a property on the Loddon river, which focussed his interest on seasonal forecasts and the growth of wheat. As a result he authored Bulletin No. 5: On the possibility of forecasting the approximate winter rainfall in northern Victoria.

In 1913 he was co-author, along with H. A. Hunt and Griffith Taylor, of the first text-book on Australian meteorology—Climate and Weather of Australia.

He developed a great interest in the movement of cirrus cloud as an indication of the high altitude winds, this being before the advent of pilot balloon flights. He wrote, in the Monthly Weather Report of December 1910, on the annual and seasonal variation in the direction of motion of cirrus clouds over Melbourne. This was elaborated upon in Bulletin No 10: The relation between cirrus direction as observed in Melbourne and the approach of various storm systems affecting Victoria, published in 1915. This interest continued throughout his life and his grand-daughter, Doris Graham, remembers him standing in his back garden in Essendon, arm extended to the sky, fingers splayed, to time the movement of clouds across the arc of sky. From this method he was able to estimate the wind speed at cloud level. His Bulletin No 15 (1917) analysed tropical control of Australian rainfall in the temperate belt.

In 1920 he became a member of the Royal Society of Victoria, reading several papers to Society meetings. These papers, subsequently published in Society proceedings, were on the modification of climate by human agency, primarily the effects of deforestation. In 1929 he wrote about long-range rainfall forecasting using Darwin air pressures. He developed an interest in the relation between sunspots and rainfall, reading a paper on the subject to the Royal Society in 1925. Bulletin No 22 on this topic followed some years later in 1938.

Source: http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/1316.html

Hi Lyndal

The Smart Water Fund can be found at http://www.smartwater.com.au

When you come over this evening, I’ll show you how simple it is to write and manage these kind of posts. It looks like the subscriber function did work. This means that you will be recieving notification by email) of this post because you are a subscriber to the site – not beause I am sending you an email.

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Simon

The Swiss House was built in the 1850s, it was imported from Europe perhps Switzerland, perhaps Germany, with every piece numbered. It was originally erected in High Street next to the Avoca Hotel. In 1870, it was moved on red gum rollers by bullocks down to its present site near the river.

Photograph by John T. Collins 1907-2001

Photograph by John T. Collins 1907-2001