Large scale sewerage upgrade underway

Date: Friday, 23rd October 2009

Townsville City Council`s largest infrastructure project is in full swing, with major construction work starting on a replacement for the city`s oldest sewage treatment plant.

Construction of the $189 million Wastewater Upgrade Project is being carried out by Baulderstone — one of Australia`s largest engineering and building firms.

The project will focus on replacing the Mt St John Wastewater Treatment Plant with a new state of the art facility on the same site, and building 27 kilometres of sewage diversion pipelines.

Mayor, Cr Les Tyrell, said initial works had included excavations and installing steel reinforcements for concrete foundations.

“Once complete, this new plant will have more than double the treatment capacity of the current facility, catering for more than 106,000 people,” Cr Tyrell said.

"If we`re to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population, we need to get the basic building blocks right, and this is exactly what this project is doing.

"We`ve reached the stage where the current network has reached its use by date, and it was evident that we needed to invest in a modern system that will last for many decades. This will play an important role in stimulating the next major phase of development in Townsville.”

Cr Tyrell says the upgrade would also allow council to decommission two small plants near homes at Mount Low and Deeragun, and one in the Bohle industrial area, when the project is complete.

“As the city has grown, these locations have become unsuitable, and it makes more sense for us to focus our efforts on expanding treatment at Mt St John,” Cr Tyrell said.

The project is being supported by the Queensland Government through a $66.7 million subsidy, and by the Australian Government with a $39.18 million grant from the Water Smart Australia program under its Water for the Future Plan.

Cr Tyrell said the project would have significant economic and environmental benefits.

“The Wastewater Upgrade Project is expected to create about 1000 full time, part-time and contract jobs during the life of the project, and the vast bulk of these will be taken up by local personnel,” Cr Tyrell said.

“However, this project is not just a boon for the local economy, it will also be critical in meeting stricter licence requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"That ultimately means discharge into the Black River and Saunders Creek will be eliminated altogether and the level of nutrients entering the Bohle River will be greatly reduced.

"Given these waterways flow out into the Great Barrier Reef, it`s critical that we do what we can to protect such an important environmental asset."

The new plant will service a significant area of Townsville including Pallarenda, Cranbrook, Kirwan, Mount Louisa, Heatley, Vincent, the industrial area of Garbutt, Bohle Plains, Deeragun and Mount Low.

The move to upgrade the Mount St John facility follows a post-amalgamation decision to adopt a centralised regional strategy for treating wastewater which resulted in an estimated $75 million in savings.

The upgrade is scheduled to be complete by September 2011.