Water Treatment

Water is treated at the Howard and Burgowan Water Treatment Plants to comply with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Both plants operate seven day per week and are managed by a team of experienced operators. A SCADA system monitors and controls routine operations and, in conjunction with a telemetry systems, records and reports faults including after-hours alarms.

The Howard Water Treatment Plant provides conventional treatment by coagulation, flocculation, settling, filtration and chlorine disinfection. The capacity and facilities at Howard have recently been upgraded. This work has included replacement of filter drainage and media, replacement of switchboards and chemical dosing pumps, refurbishment of the offices and laboratory and provision of a new backwash recovery and solids handling system. The Howard Water Treatment Plant now has the capacity to treat up to 330 litres/second (28 ML/day) and the discharge of wastewaters has been eliminated.

The Burgowan Water Treatment Plant uses a process of direct filtration and continuous backwashing. It has a nominal capacity of 10 ML/day. It is planned to double the capacity of this plant in year 2003. The plant upgrade will provide advanced water treatment using coagulation, flocculation, settlement, ozonation, filtration/biological activated carbon and chlorine disinfection.

The average quantity of water supplied by the two treatment plants is currently 16 ML/day and the highest demand recorded for a single day has been 29 ML. The plant upgrades together with increased capacity at Lenthall's dam guarantee a safe and secure supply of drinking water for residents of Hervey Bay for the next twenty years.

Wastewater Treatment

Six wastewater treatment plants with capacities ranging in size from 100 persons to 20,000 persons provide wastewater treatment services with the majority of the effluent recycled for irrigation of sugar cane, golf course and sports grounds.

The number of properties connected to sewerage is currently 14,800 serving approximately 31,000 persons. The average sewage dry weather flow is 8.6 ML/day.

The largest wastewater treatment plant is at Eli Creek. It is a conventional biological trickling filter plant serving an equivalent population of 20,000 persons. It was designed in 1969 and the capacity has been increased in stages with the most recent upgrades targetted towards reducing odour and improving sludge handling.

The next largest treatment plant is at Pulgul. Treatment at this site is by extended aeration using the activated sludge process. A Pasveer ditch process was installed in 1985 and the capacity was increased to 14,000 Equivalent Persons by providing an intermittent decant and extended aeration (IDEA) plant in 1992. Improved disinfection facilities and mechanical sludge dewatering were provided in 2002.

Smaller treatment plants serve the townships of Burrum Heads, Howard, Toogoom and Torbanlea. The treatment plants at Burrum Heads and Toogoom were recently upgraded to provide to include nitrogen removal and currently Wide Bay Water Corporation provides secondary treatment and disinfection to 100% of sewage received.

Wide Bay Water Corporation has established a program for recycling effluent. The scheme incorporates effluent storages which can hold up to 1500 ML of treated water and application to cane farms, turf farms, pasture, eucalypts, golf course, sports grounds and the airport. The reuse program is supported by an environmental management and monitoring program.

Releases to receiving waters are generally restricted to heavy rain periods. These releases are authorised under licences issued by the Department of Environment for the discharge of treated wastewater.

Wide Bay Water Corporation also has a Biosolids Management Plan. The solid wastes or sludges produced during wastewater treatment are stabilised by either anaerobic or aerobic digestion and then mechanically dewatered to produce "biosolids" which contain nutrients and organic humus material. Biosolids also contains pathogens, heavy metals and possibly pesticide residuals. However, these contaminants can be managed and the biosolids can be beneficially used in agriculture and composting applications. Wide Bay Water Corporation has demonstrated that the environmental and public heath risks can be managed in these applications to achieve desired outcomes. Wide Bay Water Corporation's Biosolids Management Plan includes both application to agricultural land and use as a raw material by a commercial compost manufacturer. Both strategies are operating under approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency and have market sustainability.