Brunswick Area Sewerage Augmentation Scheme receives national award

Council Mayor Jan Barham said the award was a significant acknowledgement and win for the Shire.

"This national award recognises that with community support and forward thinking, a sustainable approach to sewage treatment is possible.

She said Council worked for over ten years with community groups and the Brunswick River Wastewater Steering Committee to ensure that the project had positive outcomes for the upgrading of much need infrastructure and also enabled restoration of a previously degraded site.

"This project was always going to be a win-win scenario for the community. The project has delivered a new state of the art sewerage treatment plant with significant environmental rehabilitation works that compliment the Brunswick Estuary Management Plan objectives.

"The hard work of the community, Councillors and staff has ensured this has been achieved and it is now being acknowledged with this highly regarded local government award."

Council's executive manager of water and waste Phil Warner said incorporating sustainability and energy efficiency measures into the selection criteria for tenders was a key priority for the project.

"In addition, the plant has been designed to maximise treated sewage for irrigation reuse."

He said the focus of the project was on achieving environmental benefits rather than just delivering another piece of necessary infrastructure, as a result there are significant benefits and design modifications.

Key elements of the Brunswick Area Sewerage Augmentation Scheme included:

• Council engaged with the Bundjalung and Arakwal people in the consultation and construction phase and provided employment opportunities.
• STP discharges, when required, contribute to rehabilitating the degraded billabong on site, avoiding $600,000 in capital cost and ongoing operational costs.
• Council elected for the first time to heavily weight green house gas emissions (25%) and sustainability (10%) in the tender selection criteria, aiming to select contractor's who could demonstrate sustainability.
• Implementation of the effluent reuse scheme before construction of the new sewage treatment plant (STP).
• Maximisation of solar orientation of buildings for future photovoltaic's capitalisation and implemented passive solar design features in the design.
• More than 50,000 cubic metres of fill was required for the sewage treatment plant platform. To avoid noise, traffic and green house gas impacts on the local environment, fill material