Over the next few weeks a series of articles will be presented about the new Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) which is expected to be completed for the Brunswick area by end of 2009 and fully commissioned early 2010.
The new STP, known as the Brunswick Area STP, will be located on Council owned land at the end of Vallances Road in Mullumbimby and the whole scheme will be completed at a total cost of approximately $39m. The work is the result of ten years of planning and development with a range of departments and has had extensive community consultation throughout.
The STP will ultimately mean better wastewater management practices in the Mullumbimby and Brunswick area and improved water quality in the Brunswick River estuary.
The towns of Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads are presently served by two sewage treatment plants (STPs); Mullumbimby STP and Brunswick heads STP. These STPs have sewage treatment limitations and aging infrastructure. The STPs are over thirty years old, are at their limit and cannot treat to modern standards. The sewerage system at Mullumbimby in particular is limited due to the amount of stormwater entering the system which causes sewer overflows to occur in the Brunswick River during heavy wet weather.
A moratorium on development is in place in Mullumbimby and Brunswick due to these sewage treatment limitations.
In 1998 Council established the Brunswick Valley Catchment Wastewater Steering Committee to represent the community to review previous studies and develop and recommend to Council a preferred wastewater management strategy. The committee formulated a long term wastewater solution for the Brunswick area. This included a sewage management scheme that would cope with population and tourism growth, a system that maximised agricultural re-use opportunities and one that would minimise environmental impacts of effluent releases to the Brunswick River estuary.
In 1999 Byron Shire Council developed a Sewage Management Strategy for Byron Shire. This strategy provided a vision, mission, methodology and guiding principles for wastewater management for the future of the Shire. The guiding principles of the STP proposal included achieving high standards of public health, acquiring community support and approval of regulators, minimising the overall impact on the natural environment and maximising resource utilisation.
The Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads STPs will be closed down after the new STP is fully operational. A new STP and two new pump stations with pipelines for the transfer of sewage will be built. The new STP will be built on Council land at Vallances Road with the new pump stations to be at Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads. It is intended that a 10ha wetland system will also be constructed on the Vallances Road site to allow further effluent treatment and storage. The high quality effluent produced by the STP will be available for irrigation use and biosolids will be fully reused for soil remediation on nearby tea tree, cane or dairy farms.
The proposed works will manage sewage in an ecological sustainable way. It will
The STP will be located on cleared grazing land adjacent to areas of High Conservation value and fisheries habitat. Presently the riparian zone (river bank), is suffering from the adverse impacts of uncontrolled cattle access resulting in the severe erosion of river and stream banks, slumping and the deoxygenation of the western oxbows waters . This has resulted in the decline of aquatic vegetation within the riparian zones.
Byron Shire Council aims to regenerate the area’s valuable terrestrial and aquatic habitats and return the area to its natural form, whilst adding to the wildlife corridor that forms part of the site. Regenerating riparian zones is expected to improve water quality; aquatic ecosystem habitats; and fish habitat within and surrounding the area.
Work to date has been jointly funded by Council including grant assistance from the NSW Department of Primary Industry Recreational Fisheries Trust fund, NSW Environmental Trust, NSW DECC Estuary Management Program and the federal government’s Community Water Grants.
Since 2006 Council has carried out a range of environmental and rehabilitation works to restore and enhance the area’s conservation values. Work includes:
The documentation for the design of the Brunswick Valley STP is completed with the documents being issued to short listed companies. The contract for design and construction is expected to be awarded in September 2008. The pipeline and pump station designs are under way. The construction of the STP is due to be completed by the end of 2009 and fully commissioned in early 2010.
To allow access to the new STP, Vallances Road needs to be upgraded for construction and operational traffic. This work is to be tendered before June this year. Construction will commence in September and be finalised by the end of 2008.
Brunswick Valley STP Project Area
Brunswick Valley STP Project Area Map
Click to enlarge
For further information contact Phil Warner, Director Water and Recycling Management Services, 02 6626 7081 or call the HOTLINE 02 6626 7321.