Upgrades needed at treatment plant

AS part of Coliban Water’s community draft pricing submission, a major overhaul of the utility’s Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant in Epsom is being proposed.

The plant receives sewage from across the region and treats about 20 megalitres a day, converting it to recycled water for irrigation and open spaces.

With the works budgeted at $435 million, Coliban Water’s chief officer of assets and operations Danny McLean said the 31-year-old site and faces pressures from increased population and climate change.

“As the population grows, capacity gets chewed up over time,” he said. “This particular plant is reaching its designed life and capacity.

“We have extremes in terms of weather events that have an impact on the process, and we have a lot of ageing infrastructure that’s due to be invested in.”

Mr McLean said the plant provides water security, with the output reused for irrigation of the region’s parks and gardens, at Fosterville Gold Mine, Bendigo Creek and for farming in dry months.

The plant’s lagoons help native flora and fauna like frogs and spiders, with the biodiversity supported by the site’s biological nutrient removal process.

Coliban Water also trucks out biosolids, a by-product of the sewerage treatment process, to farmers across the state.

Mr McLean said the plant’s upgrade will be planned to minimise interruptions to services.

“We have land availability on this site for growth and expansion for new processes, but in some cases, we’ll reclaim some land and demolition some pieces of kit and rebuild on those sites as well,” he said.

“We have a whole project team, we very carefully plan on when we’d do shutdown works, construction and what order we’d do those, so we don’t interrupt treatment or processes or impact on our obligations.”