RUMOURS linking the Kimberly-Clark Australia Millicent Mill and the proposed $80m strawberry farm at Tantanoola have recently been aired in State Parliament.
The claims were made in the Legislative Council last Thursday afternoon by Upper House Liberal leader and Shadow Agriculture Minister David Ridgway.
“I am not sure when they are going to make the formal announcement, but I know that Sundrop is about to start the construction of the strawberry and blueberry operation in Millicent at the back of Kimberly-Clark, using the effluent water from the mill,” Mr Ridgway said.
“That is a really great thing to do, to take that effluent water and turn it into strawberries and blueberries.”
Although such rumours have circulated in the Millicent district for many months, Sundrop and KCA management have repeatedly refused to comment.
The comments by Mr Ridgway are understood to be the second time the Sundrop proposal has been mentioned in the public domain.
The only other stakeholder who has spoken publicly about the proposal has been Industry Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith and that was in an interview four months ago.
The KCA Millicent Mill opened in 1960 and its wastewater has since been discharged into Lake Bonney.
The quality of the wastewater has improved markedly over the past 30 years due to a change in mill processes and the construction of secondary effluent treatment ponds as part of the development of the now-closed $215m Tantanoola pulp mill.
Mill manager Scott Whicker declined to comment on the remarks made by Mr Ridgway.
Sundrop was also approached for comment and gave a similar response.
