Toilet trouble
RUSHING to the toilet only to discover no toilet paper angered people flocking to rail trail toilets in the middle of Koonwarra recently.
Toilets are proving a “massive problem” for the Great Southern Rail Trail committee of management, president Neville Pulham of Fish Creek said.
He said the toilets may have been without paper as vandals often rip plumbing off the wall and damage toilet paper dispensers.
“We get $30,000 to maintain the rail trail and with the trail growing the funds are not really sufficient, especially when we have to pay to fix all the damage done by vandals,” Mr Pulham said.
There are toilets in the rail trail towns of Leongatha, Meeniyan, Fish Creek and Foster, and other toilets are installed next to the trail at Koonwarra, Stony Creek, Buffalo and Foster.
Mr Pulham said the Stony Creek toilets were also “a disgrace with toilet paper chucked around everywhere”.
“I can’t imagine why some people would want to damage toilets put there for public use, but it is really getting to a stage where the job of maintaining these toilets is just too much for our committee of 10 people,” he said.
Mr Pulham said South Gippsland Shire Council looks after the toilets opposite Fish Creek and District Primary School. He would like to see council manage all toilets along the trail.
The rising popularity of the trial was placing more pressure on the committee, as members struggled to keep up maintaining the trail surface, control weeds and tackle blackberries, as well as monitor the toilets.
Council’s community strengthening manager Ned Dennis said he was aware rail trail toilets were often without toilet paper over long weekends.
He said the committee had a huge task looking after the whole trail and said council was trying to help by reinvigorating the Friends of the Rail Trail Group to encourage more volunteers to help.
No loo paper: Carolyn Lipscomb of Phillip Island was disappointed to discover there was no toilet paper in one of the public toilets at Koonwarra.
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