Coliban Water has announced the first phase of planned works to improve trade waste and treatment processes at the Kyneton Water Reclamation Plant to help protect the Campaspe River.
In June the water authority was forced to undertake daily unauthorised wastewater releases to the river to ensure lagoon embankments at the plant were protected, triggering an Environment Protection Authority safety warning for users of the river.
It was the 11th time since 2007 that undiluted wastewater had been released from the plant to the river.
Coliban Water project director Tony Kelly said the planned works would help ensure that future water released from the plant was within EPA licence conditions.
“Our plant has struggled to store the treated water it produces when there isn’t a demand for irrigation water or sufficient flows to release water to the Campaspe River,” Mr Kelly said.
“As part of the phase one works we will be installing additional aerators in our lagoons to enable oxygen to circulate and increase the treatment capacity.”
Coliban Water has also come to an agreement with major trade waste customer Hardwick Meatworks to invest in multiple initiatives to improve the quality of the wastewater Hardwicks sends to the plant for treatment, create additional storage capacity and onsite irrigation with Class B treated water.
Phase one works are expected to be completed in March 2020. Phase two and three of the works will include additional storage lagoons and increased irrigation.
Coliban Water will also move its flow meter on the river (which monitors the flow of the river to ensure discharges to the river are within licence requirements of a 5:1 dilution ratio) from downstream of the discharge point to upstream, as requested by landowners along the river.
