Secondary : Sewerage
Sewerage
Sewerage - A Famous Part of the City
The Melbourne sewerage system carries sewage for treatment at the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee or the Eastern Treatment Plant in Bangholme. A small percentage goes to local treatment plants, managed by Melbourne's retail water companies.
Eastern Treatment Plant
The Eastern Treatment Plant at Bangholme treats 40 per cent of Melbourne's sewage, or about 370 million litres a day. A small percentage of this effluent is recycled, and the rest is piped 56 kilometres for discharge under a strict EPA Victoria licence through an outfall into Bass Strait at Boags Rocks, near Gunnamatta Beach. Effluent from South East Water's treatment plants at Rosebud, Mornington and Hastings is also discharged there.
Melbourne Water is investing $87 million to reduce the ammonia content of treated effluent from the Eastern Treatment Plant. This project will reduce ammonia in treated effluent by 75 per cent. This will result in a significant improvement in the marine environment at Boags Rocks. This is a significant and complex project that involves upgrading each of the plant’s aeration tanks.
The first stage of the project, which involves modifications to the existing tanks, will be completed by 2007. The construction of additional tanks will be completed in 2009.
As part of the White Paper water reform package, Securing Our Water Future Together, the Government announced that a feasibility study would be undertaken to transfer recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant to the Latrobe Valley. The Latrobe Valley feasibility study could lead to a massive infrastructure project that has the potential to use up to 80% of the Eastern Treatment Plant's treated effluent.
Learn more about the Eastern Treatment Plant upgrade.
Western Treatment Plant
Melbourne Water's Western Treatment Plant at Werribee is a world leader in the development of environmentally friendly sewage treatment processes. The plant, which covers about 11,000 hectares, treats about 52 per cent of Melbourne's sewage, averaging 485 million litres a day.
In the past the plant used three methods of treatment: lagoon filtration, land filtration and grass filtration. Early in 2004, land and grass filtration gave way to lagoon treatment.
In response to the findings of the Port Phillip Bay Environmental Study, Melbourne Water is currently undertaking the largest upgrade of the treatment process in the plant's 100-year history. This will ensure that the Western Treatment Plant continues to be a leader in environmentally responsible sewage treatment.
Learn more about the Western Treatment Plant upgrade.
Useful Teacher Resources
A list of useful teacher resources can be found under Educational Resources.