Project team to look for better solutions to sewage plant expansion

Sunshine Coast Regional Council agreed today to investigate sustainable alternatives to upgrading the seven sewage treatment plants (STPs) that service the Sunshine Coast region.

A project team will identify alternatives during a three month review period.

The team, led by Major Projects Portfolio councillor Debbie Blumel, will review integrated water management strategies that have the potential to reduce the need to augment existing sewage treatment plants.

Integrated water management is a term used to describe water infrastructure planning that combines the use of rainwater tanks, roof water and stormwater harvesting, grey-water reuse and dual reticulation.

“The increasing population on the Sunshine Coast requires that council enhance the capacity of our existing systems,” Cr Blumel said.

“The role of the project team will be to achieve the most efficient and sustainable solutions.

“In some cases the best solution will be to augment the STPs. In other cases there will be opportunities to implement new technologies that reduce the need for STPs.

“The team will review all possible options for integrated water management.”

The project team will include the Mayor, Bob Abbot and councillors from key portfolio areas including environment, finance, organisational performance and a wide range of highly qualified and nationally renowned water industry and environmental experts.

“We will work closely with a range of state government agencies, including those concerned with environment and licensing, to set up terms of reference for the team,” Cr Blumel said.

“The team will also use a decision making framework, developed by water industry leaders to ensure that the options, sustainability criteria, assessment and the preferred solutions meet the highest of standards and help achieve council’s Corporate Plan commitment to becoming Australia’s most sustainable region.”

The project team’s recommendations will be reported back to council for approval. The team will hold a workshop at the end of this month.