Coliban Water is delivering a new solids handling facility, and this “once-in-a-generation” investment will set Bendigo up for a sustainable water future.
By December 2028, a new solids handling facility at the Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant in Epsom is set to be completed. For Coliban Water, this is a landmark capital investment and an important step in an upgrade project that will “benefit every bum in Bendigo”.
The new facility will replace the current solids handling process, and is designed to increase the plant’s treatment capacity, reduce odour emissions and increase the reuse of biosolids. Coliban Water Managing Director, Damian Wells, said it will benefit Bendigo’s future generations, with the city’s population expected to approach 200,000 by 2050.
“When you think about it, it may be the only piece of community infrastructure that connects and benefits everyone, or every ‘bum’, in Bendigo,” he said.
“We don’t consciously think about it but every time you flush your toilet, use the sink or wash something down the drain, our plant in Epsom is where it ends up. So much of what happens at our plant and across our network is out of sight and out of mind for people.
“This truly is a once-in-a-generation upgrade of essential public health infrastructure for our community. It will benefit not only those living in Bendigo now, but those who move to our region in the future.
“As a customer-funded organisation, we are always keen to ensure our customers know we spend the money from their water bills wisely to meet their needs today and support our community tomorrow.”
The Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant currently receives and treats more than 22ML of sewage from 110,000 people across Bendigo each day – the equivalent of around nine Olympic swimming pools. When complete, the planned Solids Handling Upgrade will ensure the Bendigo plant can provide an essential service to the growing city for the next 25 years.
“We need to act now and address the challenges of our changing and drying climate, ageing infrastructure and our increasing population,” Mr Wells said.
“As always, we are working hard to make sure our customers, communities, Traditional Owners, partners and other stakeholders are right there with us and up to date with our progress.”
Coliban Water is also planning to upgrade the liquids treatment stream at the Bendigo Water Reclamation Plant to complement the new solids handling facility.
The central Victorian water corporation is on-track to deliver its biggest ever program of capital investment, supporting its 180,000 customers, local business and industry, and future growth.
Investing in the future
Coliban Water will deliver around $500 million worth of capital investment during its 2023–28 pricing period.
Other major projects on the agenda include a major upgrade of the Castlemaine Water Reclamation Plant, upgrades at a number of drinking water treatment plants, and the first phase of the Water and Sewer Network Program, the latter of which will help grow and future-proof the region’s enormous network of water and sewer pipelines and pump stations.
The new solids handling facility will be a complete replacement of the existing part of the treatment process that takes the solid sludge from the wastewater and turns it into biosolids that are able to be used in farming.
“With Bendigo’s expected growth in the coming decades, the solids handling facility will process the increased volumes of sewage, turning it into high quality biosolids that can be used sustainably as fertiliser by local farmers,” Mr Wells said.
“We are choosing to invest for the long-term to ensure the next generation inherit a plant that is safer, more sustainable, more energy efficient and more resilient to the impacts of our changing and drying climate.”
To help complete the works, Coliban Water has awarded a contract to LC Envico – a joint venture between Laurie Curran Water and CCB Envico.
Awarding the contract is the first major milestone for the project, there will be a focus on detailed design over the coming months before electrical infrastructure upgrades are completed during the remainder of 2025 and early 2026, before construction on the new aerobic digestor, thickening and dewatering equipment begins in mid-2026.
“The procurement process has been extremely thorough, with first-class due diligence carried out by our project team,” Mr Wells said.
“Our partner, LC Envico, is highly regarded and experienced across the water sector when it comes to delivering water infrastructure upgrades of this scale.”
Works on the new solids handling facility is expected to be completed in the next three-and-a-half years.
“When complete, the aerobic digestor will be one of the largest in Australia, with four cells measuring 36m on each side with the whole facility to have a capacity of 24ML,” Mr Wells said.
“All of this work will be carried out on-site, near the existing facility, to minimise disruption to the usual treatment process.”
Bendigo’s wastewater treatment has always been at the Epsom site, which opened in 1923 and has been modernised regularly through the decades – with the last major upgrade in the early 1990s.
“This wastewater facility has been serving our community for more than 100 years, and it’s nearing the end of its asset life,” Mr Wells said.
“Like our predecessors, we know effectively managing the city’s sewage is vital for people’s health. We also know our region will continue to prosper and our population grow. That is why these upgrades are so important.
“We started planning for these upgrades back in 2016, so it is close to ten years in the making. But we know there is still much more to do.
“We recognise this facility has reached a critical point and that we must continue to invest in our capability and capacity to support more people, in more homes, in new suburbs, with more industry and with increasing opportunity.”
For more information, visit connect.coliban.com.au/bendigo-wrp-upgrade-project
