Delivering a healthy working Basin for Australia: Water for the Future Local Story
Bathurst, New South Wales
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2011
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Program: National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns
Funding recipient: Bathurst Regional Council
Water for the Future funding $830,000
Project commencement: July 2010
Project completion: June 2012
Bathurst Water Filtration Plant
Bathurst Regional Council is planning for a more sustainable future including a population increase and looking at opportunities to conserve, recycle and reuse water. The Council is undertaking a project to make the most of efficient water filtration processes.
Bathurst is Australia’s oldest inland settlement and the site of one of the earliest reticulated water supplies in NSW, constructed along the banks of the Macquarie River in 1884. Studies have indicated that Bathurst’s population could grow to 80,000 by the year 2050.
‘The Bathurst region has a growing population, thriving economy and diverse community largely because of our high levels of water security as well as road networks and proximity to Sydney,’ says Clr Paul Toole, Mayor of the Bathurst Region.
‘This project aims to maximise water recycling by upgrading infrastructure at the Bathurst Water Filtration Plant, so that we can treat and recycle the backwash from the treatment process.’
The current system for supplying drinking water involves extracting river water and treating it through a mixture of chemical and filtration processes. This chemical dosing produces a waste sludge, which is discharged into a sludge lagoon and eventually disposed of as landfill.
The project involves drawing off the supernatant, the clean water that sits above the sludge when it settles, and feeding it back through the treatment process. There is also a reduced quantity of water diverted from the Macquarie River.
‘By recycling the supernatant back through the raw water filtration process, we can save significant amounts of water,’ says Clr Toole. ‘At present, our annual water consumption is about 6,000 megalitres (ML); through this process we could recover 192 ML per year. In 50 years time, this could amount to a saving of 340 ML per year.
‘Maximising the water filtration process reduces the need to use water from Chifley Dam – ensuring that this valuable water source is conserved wherever possible.’
The project doesn’t only have water saving benefits. By minimising the quantity of supernatant released back into the Macquarie River there is a further reduction in low risk contaminants entering the Murray-Darling Basin waterway.
‘This will positively impact the quality and security of water throughout the downstream area of the Murray Darling Basin,’ says Clr Toole.
Bathurst Water Filtration Plant
Ben Chifley Dam – Bathurst's major water storage, located on the Campbell's River, 17 kilometres upstream of Bathurst
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