Lake Rhona toilet issue

[Strider]

Sputniks more like 500+ kg/litres with a screw top lid

DSC_7078.jpg

OK I aint usin' that little number for my number twos......
I'd be going bush and walking a way away

Not really appropriate in a highly ecologically sensitive area where a toilet is provided for you at great effort and expense.

[stepbystep]

Sputniks more like 500+ kg/litres with a screw top lid

DSC_7078.jpg

OK I aint usin' that little number for my number twos......
I'd be going bush and walking a way away

Not really appropriate in a highly ecologically sensitive area where a toilet is provided for you at great effort and expense.

...and I'd like to see you "go bush" in a snowstorm at Lake Oberon and do your business outside the watershed

[corvus]

OK I aint usin' that little number for my number twos......
I'd be going bush and walking a way away

Not really appropriate in a highly ecologically sensitive area where a toilet is provided for you at great effort and expense.

...and I'd like to see you "go bush" in a snowstorm at Lake Oberon and do your business outside the watershed

In those sort of conditions I would forbid my sphincter to even consider an evacuation
corvus

[Onestepmore]

LOL, after reading this thread I think lake Rhona is pretty safe from me adding to it's contamination problem.

[Strider]

LOL, after reading this thread I think lake Rhona is pretty safe from me adding to it's contamination problem.

I was referring to areas with Sputniks in place.

[Nuts]

Easy enough process to take muhammad to the mountain

[lschmal]

I was lucky enough to get to Lake Rhona in January. Amazing place, but the toileting issue is the worst I've seen anywhere.
Putting my 2-cents in...
I have used PVC pipe 'poo tubes' before with students and as a student, and they are perfectly fine (quite popular with Outdoor Ed companies in Victoria). Line it with a plastic bag/garbage bag (preferably biodegradable), get some nappy sacks (biodegradable), and you are away. Do your business into the nappy sacks (no need to sit on the pipe in any way), throw in your paper, tie it up and pop it into the liner bag in the tube, and make sure the lid is on tight! DONT pee in it (it will be heavy and will help start to biodegrade the bags). At the end of the trip, providing all the bags you used were biodegradable, you can dump it at a sewage facility (if your in Hobart, Ive dropped waste at the one in Cornelian Bay - they had a special wheelie bin for this purpose). Clean the tube and you are ready for the next trip!
If anything, ALWAYS carry out toilet paper.

It is an amazing place up there, but I would strongly consider not visiting again due to the rubbish left from toileting.

[ILUVSWTAS]

It is an amazing place up there, but I would strongly consider not visiting again due to the rubbish left from toileting.

This is getting pretty serious and parks NEED to do something.

We may as well let Hydro flood the damn lakes and be done with it rather that letting us humans destroy things slowly.

[Strider]

It is an amazing place up there, but I would strongly consider not visiting again due to the rubbish left from toileting.

This is getting pretty serious and parks NEED to do something.

We may as well let Hydro flood the damn lakes and be done with it rather that letting us humans destroy things slowly.

The real question is why is Lk Rhona more affected by this issue than other locations?

[ILUVSWTAS]

It's not. Due to easy access it has become a VERY popular spot. One recent reprt said there were 20+ tents on the beach.

The Cirque is quite small, and humans are lazy *&^%$#@! so they wont walk outside the catchment area to do they're business.

[stepbystep]

I hope PWS aren't sitting on their hands re this situation, it won't go away.

People are inherently lazy, blase or ignorant, nothing short of a sputnik will do. Pootubes aren't realistic for the majority for the reasons I've just eluded too.

[ILUVSWTAS]

I hope PWS aren't sitting on their hands re this situation, it won't go away.

People are inherently lazy, blase or ignorant, nothing short of a sputnik will do. Pootubes aren't realistic for the majority for the reasons I've just eluded too.

100% agree.

[Strider]

It's not. Due to easy access it has become a VERY popular spot. One recent reprt said there were 20+ tents on the beach.

The Cirque is quite small, and humans are lazy *&^%$#@! so they wont walk outside the catchment area to do they're business.

Given the sodden ground and poor tracks around the lake, it's probably a 15-20 minute walk to actually exit the lake catchment - and you would still be within the catchment for the stream that exits the lake. So even walking away from the lake itself isn't really a solution to the problem.

Binder's reasoning about not putting a Sputnik in because of proximity of cliffs doesn't hold for me either. This could potentially be located near where the track crosses the outgoing stream at the eastern end of the lake - in the location circled below.

Attachments

Rhona toilet.jpg (172.11 KiB) Viewed 16768 times

[stepbystep]

That's pretty dodgy Strider, it would be very unsightly where you propose and even if considerable trackwork was done the lazy factor would prevent people getting out there, not to mention it being very exposed.

It would have to be closer to the campsite and with a little protection, set back from the eastern end of the beach somewhere perhaps?

[Strider]

That's pretty dodgy Strider, it would be very unsightly where you propose and even if considerable trackwork was done the lazy factor would prevent people getting out there, not to mention it being very exposed.

It would have to be closer to the campsite and with a little protection, set back from the eastern end of the beach somewhere perhaps?

The track goes right past here! Plan your poo for the journey in/out

As for unsightly, I'd rather look at a sputnik than poo/toilet paper/scat holes next to the track.

Eastern end of the beach is still fairly close to cliffs with regard to updraughts etc. Although this does appear to be the most popular location for toileting...

[whynotwalk]

Given the sodden ground and poor tracks around the lake, it's probably a 15-20 minute walk to actually exit the lake catchment.

Not really Strider. It's less than 5 minutes. And PWS won't use a sputnik because of (a) the cost, (b) the frequently dangerous helicopter conditions (downdraught from prevailing winds) and (c) the aesthetics (not easy to hide or place inconspicuously). Signs are either in, or going in soon, at the Richea Creek start point, advising walkers to either go outside the catchment, or use poo tubes. I believe it may say something like "Don't poo in your own nest!".

Personal responsibility may not work perfectly, but neither does having the state wipe our botty for us

cheers

Peter

[Strider]

It took me more than 5 minutes to even find the track! Because of the intense toileting, there are a maze of little tracks around that area.

[tibboh]

I haven't been to Rhona yet and have wanted to go for a while. From the sounds of this thread I might leave it for the time being!

[stepbystep]

All good and well hoping for personal responsibility but its not working thus far.... I would have thought Oberon and Cygnus would have similar updraft issues?

If the track around the lake was better perhaps some people might be more persuaded to be more responsible?

A sign in the main campsite might also be wise?

[Strider]

I haven't been to Rhona yet and have wanted to go for a while. From the sounds of this thread I might leave it for the time being!

Get in before it gets worse, I say...

If the track around the lake was better perhaps some people might be more persuaded to be more responsible?

A sign in the main campsite might also be wise?

Both excellent points.

Last edited by Strider on Sun 21 Apr, 2013 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[pazzar]

I haven't been to Rhona yet and have wanted to go for a while. From the sounds of this thread I might leave it for the time being!

Don't let a bit of poo put you off visiting. It is a truly amazing place, I never get sick of going there. You just need to watch your step and be responsible yourself!

[ILUVSWTAS]

All good and well hoping for personal responsibility but its not working thus far.... I would have thought Oberon and Cygnus would have similar updraft issues?

Yes, I had a similar thought in reaction to Peters comment. Rhona is similar to the Arthurs. And at the end of the day, when they close the area down due to health reasons, what then?? MAYBE we should have put a sputnik in? Oh well who cares huh.................

If the track around the lake was better perhaps some people might be more persuaded to be more responsible?

A sign in the main campsite might also be wise?

Dan is spot on. it ISNT working so far. it IS only going to get worse. Cant we do something about it now before the area DOES get closed?

[stepbystep]

Look Rhona provokes pretty strong feelings, particularly amongst those of us who have visited a few times. Peter more than I knows this, and I don't want it to turn into a PWS bashing exercise, but we want to see a practical solution and I haven't seen a compelling argument other than $$$ for not addressing this issue. It would be great to see a higher level of public consultation and information release. Rhona really is a jewel in the SW crown, it is so accessible and vulnerable it hurts me to hear it is continuing to degrade

[PeterJ]

You have made a lot of sensible points, SBS, as usual. If a fly in toilet is not be placed there, then I would actually like to see an online application, requiring name and confirming email (you know reply to email to confirm validity) and where people are required to give an undertaking to use designated location for toilet. It would also allow you to know how many others were likely to be there.

Yes I know hard to police etc. but there is always the hope that it might make people more responsible.

Peter

[Strider]

You have made a lot of sensible points, SBS, as usual. If a fly in toilet is not be placed there, then I would actually like to see an online application, requiring name and confirming email (you know reply to email to confirm validity) and where people are required to give an undertaking to use designated location for toilet. It would also allow you to know how many others were likely to be there.

Yes I know hard to police etc. but there is always the hope that it might make people more responsible.

Peter

What happens if you don't complete the online application? Will there be a man stationed at the Gordon log crossing checking for completed applications?

[Nuts]

I'm always for greater consultaion (though i did get pricked on the boot scrubber thread...)
Maybe a surveillance camera (or just the sign)?
Those platform sputnicks are enough. the budget is always going to be a mystery, there's no getting around not knowing if the coffers really are bare.
Maybe we need a mega toilet fund auction ???

[tibboh]

This sounds like another project for Dick Smith to fund.

[Strider]

This sounds like another project for Dick Smith to fund.

Any idea how to get in touch with him directly?

[tibboh]

This sounds like another project for Dick Smith to fund.

Any idea how to get in touch with him directly?

There can't be that many Smith's in the phone book

[Nuts]

C'mon.. we don't need Dick do we?