Yesterday (26 July) marked the 30th anniversary of when Bendigo’s Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) first began treating the region’s wastewater.
The Epsom facility was officially opened on 26 July 1991, when the Bendigo Water Board was in existence. This was prior to Coliban Water’s establishment.
Executive General Manager Service Delivery Danny McLean said the team is proud that 30 years on, the plant continues to be a critical piece of community infrastructure.
“Our Bendigo WRP has an amazing legacy and continues to serve our region. It highlights the benefits of how a great investment can set us up for the long term.
“This anniversary builds on the legacy from 1923 when Bendigo first introduced a sewer system and usage of the current Epsom site began.
“Sanitation in the developed world has an instant impact on people’s lives and health outcomes. The Bendigo Sewer system dramatically reduced the number of deaths related to water-borne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid.”
The plant receives and treats sewage from around 110,000 people in the Bendigo region.
“That equates to 47,000 connections, which includes residential, industrial and commercial customers, such as restaurants. It also receives septic tank waste delivered by local contractors.
“The plant treats around 20 million litres of wastewater a day, which equates to water entering the plant at an average flow of 230 litres per second,” Mr McLean said.
That water is reused for irrigation of the city’s parks and gardens, water for Fosterville Gold Mine, releases to Bendigo Creek and water for farming in dry months.
The WRP is operated and maintained by Lendlease and is the largest of Coliban Water’s 16 wastewater plants.
“Our plant has 67 hectares of lagoons, treatment ponds and dams that have a high biodiversity value.
“The plant supports a range of native flora and fauna and attracts thousands of birds. Many of these birds are of local and international conservation significance,” he said.
“With a permanent source of water, the plant is also home to a nationally-threatened species — the Growling Grass Frog.
“Our treatment lagoons provide an ideal habitat with plenty of algae and ample rocks for protection from predators. This allows the frogs to emerge, feed and bask,” Mr McLean said.
“We have also recently launched our new Environmental Policy Statement, which means we are committed to the highest levels of environmental stewardship and sustainability.
“It’s important for us to have a company-wide policy that helps to guide and drive our strategic directions,” Mr McLean said.
The thriving biodiversity is sustained by the water treatment process used at the plant, called Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR).
This process uses naturally occurring bacteria, often referred to as ‘bugs’, to consume excess nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus.
The bugs are then removed as sludge, which after further treatment can be reused as biosolids.
This process is more cost effective and environmentally-friendly than using chemicals to remove nutrients.
Thirty years ago, this facility was one of the first purpose-built BNR plants in Australia.
“At the time, it was new technology coming out of South Africa, and it was decided to test out the technology locally in Bendigo,” Mr McLean said.
“To do this the engineering team worked with the Bendigo College of Advanced Education (now LaTrobe University) to set up a pilot.
“This produced good results and the technology was selected for use.”
The Bendigo WRP is constantly monitored and evaluated, with planning and upgrades on the horizon to meet the needs of Bendigo’s growing population.
“When the plant commenced operation in 1991, Bendigo’s population was around 62,000 and there were 25,000 connections to our sewer network. Fast forward to today, and those figures have almost doubled.
“In recent years there have been upgrades to the sewer mains and our staff are also actively planning and working through the detailed designs for a sludge treatment upgrade at the facility.
“Just like we were advanced in our thinking thirty years ago, it is critical that we consider what upgrades need to be made to the plant to allow for continued growth and climate change.
“Our master plan for the site has identified important infrastructure upgrades to address the changing population and climate of the region.
“This investment will help support the prosperity of the region, ensuring our customers always have access to reliable sewer services, now and into the future,” he added.
As a big energy user, the Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant is also leading the industry by participating in a program to help stabilise the wider electricity grid.
“It means that in periods of grid instability, we can turn off some of the non-essential energy-intensive machinery at the plant, known as ‘load shedding’, to ensure there is enough electricity in the grid to meet demand.
“When requested, the aerators in the biological nutrient removal process are turned off, reducing 700Kw, or the equivalent to the average power demand of approximately 230 households.
“This reduction is one example of our practices that will help achieve our pledge to reduce our emissions by 13 percent by 2025, and be net-zero by 2040 or sooner,” Mr McLean said.
While there is no formal celebration to mark the thirty-year anniversary, Coliban Water will share images from over the years on its social media channels this month.