Gippsland Water, VIC is nearing the completion of a $500,000 program of works in the towns of Moe, Morwell and Warragul.
The works will conclude in coming weeks with maintenance on one of the bio-reactors at the Warragul waste water treatment plant being completed.
Senior engineer with the Wastewater Treatment Group at Gippsland Water, Adrian Harper, says the work will safeguard the facility for the next five years.
“These works will mean we can continue to take sewage from one of the faster growing areas of the region and continue to treat it safely and to the standard required to minimise environmental impact.
The work includes taking one of the two bio-reactors offline and then emptying all the contents. Once it is empty we can send in work crews to clean out the residual sludge and then carry out the required maintenance and inspection tasks. These tasks include inspection and repair of all concrete walls and other assets that are usually submerged, and replacing any damaged assets such as mixers or valves.
The bio-reactors work by mimicking nature, with micro-organisms breaking down the nutrients in the wastewater. What we do is contain all that micro- biology in the bio-reactors and maintain the ideal conditions for its growth. While this bioreactor is offline, most of the incoming sewage is treated by the other bio-reactor. Any incoming sewage that the bio-reactor cannot handle is diverted to a storage lagoon from where it will be returned through the plant for treatment once the offline bio-reactor is back online.”
The work at the Warragul Treatment Plant has commenced and will conclude in early April.
