$40 million water and wastewater upgrades for a healthier tomorrow
You might take it for granted that when you turn on a tap, what comes out is clean water that can be used for drinking, washing and cooking. At the other end, when your dirty water flows down a sink or drain, or you flush a toilet, your main concern is probably that it goes away, never to be seen again.
The reality is that there's a lot that happens behind the scenes to allow this reliable service. At Coliban Water, we have water treatment plants that produce our clean drinking water, and water reclamation plants that process, clean and recycle our wastewater. After we've cleaned the wastewater, the recycled water is then used in different ways. Our plants run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are closely managed by skilled teams. It is important that these plants can continue to support our growing communities.
That's why, we're investing in how we clean and store water across our region, with a $40 million upgrade program running over the next 10 years, as part of our Big Water Build. The program will provide both water and wastewater upgrades across the region.
This investment in our water and sewerage network will ensure we are not only meeting our customers' needs today, but can protect our region against the impacts of a changing climate, growing population and ageing assets into the future. These works form part of us delivering on our Big Water Build - with critical upgrades in every corner of our region.
The investment will provide improvements in reliability, efficiency, and increase treatment capacity across our water and sewer networks. From a public health perspective, this is critical as it ensures we can continue providing safe drinking water, water pressure, and reliability of sewerage services across our region.
Utilising the latest technology and increasing our treatment capacity will also deliver environmental benefits. Lower carbon emissions, more recycled water outputs, and a reduction in noise and odour. A win for our environment, and our community.
To deliver these benefits, Coliban Water has awarded contracts to five new delivery partners who will be responsible for different packages of works across both our drinking water treatment and sewer networks. Guidera O’Connor Construction, Laurie Curran Water, and Filtec International will work on mechanical and electrical systems. Civil and Earth Australia and Leed Engineering and Construction will work on civil and earth works projects.
Managing Director Damian Wells congratulated the successful contractors and said the program will upgrade a variety of water treatment and storage facilities that provide drinking water to and manage wastewater from households.
"These essential upgrades will make sure we can continue to provide clean drinking water to our towns and suburbs," he said. "We supply more than 22,256 megalitres of drinking water to over 180,000 customers a year."
"By upgrading our aging infrastructure and water systems, we’re making sure our services are more reliable, we’re ready for more people and changing weather, and we use environmentally friendly practices," Mr Wells said.
We’re starting with the most important upgrades first, spending around $30 million in the first five years. These early projects include improvements to water treatment plants and lagoon systems at water reclamation plants.
We’re kicking off works in Cohuna in early 2026, followed by projects in Axedale, Echuca, Malmsbury, and Goornong. This builds on recent and continuing water and sewer network upgrades in Bendigo to support Epsom, Huntly, Marong and Maiden Gully.
In Cohuna, we will build a new pump station, install new pipes, and add systems that clean water using ultraviolet light and powdered carbon. These works will ensure we continue to provide clean drinking water and meet the needs of the surrounding communities.
To deliver this large program, we’re using a long-term partnership approach. This means working closely with delivery partners over several years, rather than hiring different contractors for each job. We have used this method before in our Water and Sewer Network Program, launched earlier this year, and in smaller infrastructure projects – and it has worked well.
A key advantage of the model is the local benefits it delivers. The long-term nature of the partnership provides opportunity for contractors to establish local bases, utilise local suppliers and subcontractors, and employ locally.
"By using the long-term partnership approach, we're spending money more efficiently and building strong relationships with contractors who care about using local materials and supporting our communities," Mr Wells said.
We’re excited to get started and deliver long-lasting benefits for the 180,000 customers we serve across our region.
Visit connect.coliban.com.au to read more about the projects being completed as part of this program.