Coliban Water will appeal its new Kyneton Water Reclamation Plant operating licence from the EPA at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The EPA had amended the licence to require a ratio of less than one part recycled water for every three parts river water (when making emergency releases from the plant to the Campaspe River), rejecting Coliban Water’s request for a ratio of two parts recycled water to one part river water.
CW managing director Damian Wells said following technical and legal assessment of the new licence received from the EPA last week, and the water authority’s ability to comply with these conditions, he believed it was in the best interest of customers to exercise the right to appeal at VCAT.
“We submitted our Licence Amendment Application in May 2022 where we are proposing to ‘lock-in’ new environmental performance standards consistent with our new Environment and Sustainability Policy,” Mr Wells said.
“We are long-running custodians of the Campaspe River water cycle and we stand behind the environmental credentials of our recent work at Kyneton WRP where we acknowledged historical non-compliance issues.”
Mr Wells said Coliban Water, together with its recycled water partners, had invested more than $20 million at the site over the past three years, delivering a dramatic step-change in environmental performance including:
– A 95 per cent reduction in phosphorus in river releases of highly treated water.
– A trebling of treated water storage.
– Construction of a 14-kilometre pipeline to supply recycled water for agricultural use.
– A new Class C to Class B recycled water facility.
– Major new agricultural recycled water customers connected and operating, with an additional 350 megalitres of recycled water provided for agricultural use each year.
– Continued supply of recycled water to the Kyneton Racecourse, the Kyneton Botanic Gardens and local sports fields.
“In what should be a 42-day process, the decision took in excess of 500 days, which has been extremely disappointing,” Mr Wells said.
Coliban Water is also seeking further ecological and scientific evidence and justification from the EPA to support their decisions in relation to the new licence conditions.
“Our Licence Amendment Application contained an evidence-based Environmental Risk Assessment and supporting documentation that demonstrated our proposal would not create an unacceptable environmental risk to the Campaspe River,” Mr Wells said.
“The matter is now before VCAT where we also seek a stay in the commencement of the new Operating Licence until the matter is resolved.”
