Industry alliance plans $130m wastewater upgrade

The state government will allocate $130 million to upgrade four wastewater treatement plants in Mandurah and Kwinana, Water Resources Minister John Kobelke announced today.

The design and construction work will be done under an alliance arrangement with Sunset Coast Water, comprising John Holland, Kellogg Brown and Root, Burns and Roe Worley and the Water Corporation.

The full text of a government announcement is pasted below

A program of works worth about $130 million to upgrade the Mandurah and Kwinana wastewater treatment plants will ensure the community and the environment benefits from a more efficient and effective wastewater service.

Water Resources Minister John Kobelke today announced the project which will see the upgrade of four existing facilities at Gordon Road, Halls Head, Caddadup and Kwinana wastewater treatment plants.

"Mandurah and Kwinana are two of the fastest growing areas in Western Australia and the Government has committed a significant investment to ensure these communities are well serviced into the future," Mr Kobelke said.

"The upgrades include significant changes to sludge treatment and management to minimise odours, including partial elimination of large sludge treatment lagoons."

Mandurah MLA David Templeman said local residents would welcome the upgrade.

"I know that residents living nearby will be pleased to know their odour problems will soon become a thing of the past," Mr Templeman said.

"But importantly, these works also mean we are planning for the future and catering for the tremendous growth we are experiencing in the Mandurah region."

Mr Kobelke said the Water Corporation would develop the plants to produce treated wastewater suitable for reuse.

"There have been several opportunities for re-use of water identified near the Caddadup site and the Water Corporation has developed a process which will deliver treated wastewater to meet community and customer needs," he said.

"Treated wastewater quality will be increased at the Caddadup plant by converting the existing plant from the pond style to the more advanced technology of oxidation ditch."

Mr Templeman said the Halls Head and Gordon Road plants would have existing treatment facilities expanded and upgraded to ensure very high levels of treatment continued to be achieved at these two sites.

He said design and construction work would be done under an alliance arrangement with Sunset Coast Water, which was made up of industry partners including John Holland, Kellogg Brown and Root, Burns and Roe Worley and the Water Corporation.

"The Alliance partnership will deliver a three year program of works incorporating the latest technology in wastewater treatment design," Mr Templeman said.

Caddadup wastewater treatment plant would be the first plant to be upgraded and construction had already begun.