A water recycling plant on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula has been shortlisted for Water Reuse Project of the Year at the 2023 Global Water Awards, the only Australian project to be selected.
South East Water’s Boneo Water Recycling Plant achieved global recognition for its sustainability, placing it among the top projects of its kind in the world.
The Global Water Awards recognise excellence across the entire international water industry, rewarding leading initiatives in water, wastewater and desalination.
The project will compete against initiatives from the USA, Singapore and the Philippines at the 2023 Global Water Awards with winners announced at the Global Water Summit, held in Berlin in May 2023.
South East Water’s General Manager Liveable Water Solutions, Charlie Littlefair, said the global recognition for the Boneo upgrade shows that a sustainable approach to technology solutions provides benefits to customers, community and environment.
“This innovative upgrade of our Boneo plant will support the region’s growing community until 2050. We’ve increased its capacity to treat 50 per cent more wastewater, which provides a drought-proof source of high-quality recycled water for local farmers.
“It also supports peak sewage inflows in the area during the summer months and allows the connection of more than 16,000 aging septic systems to sewer – a known cause of groundwater and waterway pollution in the region,” Mr Littlefair said.
In 2022, South East Water completed a $150 million upgrade of its Boneo Water Recycling Plant in a joint venture with John Holland, SUEZ and Beca (JHSB).
The upgrade transformed the Boneo Water Recycling Plant into a circular ecosystem, which reduces emissions and supports sustainable agriculture by making better use of the nutrient and energy rich by-products of the water recycling process.
The upgrade delivers a suite of innovative energy efficient technologies and biogas-driven combined heat and power (CHP), reducing the utility’s reliance on grid electricity by 30 to 40 per cent and contributing to a corporate emissions reduction target of 45 per cent by 2025.
The major upgrade is funded by a commitment South East Water made in its five-year Customer Commitment 2018–23 to stay ahead of challenges like population growth and climate change.
Featured image: Boneo Water Recycling Plant – aerial view of upgrade. Courtesy of South East Water.
