MAY 2016 ISSUE 5 RUBYANNA RUBYANNA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT 1 CONSTRUCTION STARTS ON RUBYANNA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT RUBYANNA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT Project Update Project Update MAY 2016 - ISSUE 5 The $71 million Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant is the single largest infrastructure project undertaken by Bundaberg Regional Council. Originally the project was costed at $92 million but new technologies and a competitive tender process in a keen marketplace has resulted in a price tag being reduction to $71 million. The treatment plant has a construction footprint of around 3 ha and is located on a 126 ha greenfield site on Rubyanna Road. The new treatment plant will provide state-of-the-art membrane technology with a focus on odour control and environmental outcomes. On completion, Council will be able to decommission its aged plant at East Bundaberg which has reached capacity for treatment of sewage. The old style of treatment used at the East Plant fails to meet the environmental requirements for discharge to the Burnett River. Bundaberg Regional Council awarded the Rubyanna contract on a design, construct, operate and maintain basis to Downer Utilities Australia Pty Ltd. The contract requires Downer Utilities to undertake the operations and maintenance of the plant and pumping station for a three year period from commissioning in approximately December 2017. There is an option at Council’s discretion, to extend for a further seven years. Downer is experienced in the construction of treatment plants and is looking forward to undertaking the Rubyanna project using the latest technology to produce high quality treated water. An Operational Works permit has been granted to start construction of the new plant and regional pumping station. Downer is preparing to commence earthworks to construct the access road off Rubyanna Road and construction of civil works is scheduled to commence in May 2016. Other associated infrastructure is required to operate the new treatment plant. The inlet and outlet pipelines have already been constructed and the discharge facility on the Burnett River is out to tender for design and construction. At start up, the new Rubyanna Plant will take the sewage from the East Bundaberg Plant and Council staff have been installing the sewer infrastructure in preparation for this connection to the existing pipework. Planning is also underway for decommissioning of the East Wastewater Treatment Plant once the new plant is fully operational. Downer has set up temporarily at the new regional pumping station site on Darnell Street, East Bundaberg and will relocate to Rubyanna Road once earthworks have been completed. STATE GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTES TO RUBYANNA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT PROJECT Bundaberg Regional Council welcomes the support of the Queensland Government granting a $5 Million funding contribution under the Building our Regions Program to construct the Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant. A further application for interest free loans is currently being assessed under the Catalyst Infrastructure program. The Queensland Government’s continued support for this essential infrastructure is greatly appreciated and will certainly facilitate economic growth for our region.
The $71 million Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant is the single largest infrastructure project undertaken by Bundaberg Regional Council. Originally the project was costed at $92 million but new technologies and a competitive tender process in a keen marketplace has resulted in a price tag being reduction to $71 million.
The treatment plant has a construction footprint of around 3 ha and is located on a 126 ha greenfield site on Rubyanna Road. The new treatment plant will provide state-of-the-art membrane technology with a focus on odour control and environmental outcomes. On completion, Council will be able to decommission its aged plant at East Bundaberg which has reached capacity for treatment of sewage. The old style of treatment used at the East Plant fails to meet the environmental requirements for discharge to the Burnett River.
Bundaberg Regional Council awarded the Rubyanna contract on a design, construct, operate and maintain basis to Downer Utilities Australia Pty Ltd. The contract requires Downer Utilities to undertake the operations and maintenance of the plant and pumping station for a three year period from commissioning in approximately December 2017. There is an option at Council’s discretion, to extend for a further seven years. Downer is experienced in the construction of treatment plants and is looking forward to undertaking the Rubyanna project using the latest technology to produce high quality treated water. An Operational Works permit has been granted to start construction of the new plant and regional pumping station. Downer is preparing to commence earthworks to construct the access road off Rubyanna Road and construction of civil works is scheduled to commence in May 2016.
Other associated infrastructure is required to operate the new treatment plant. The inlet and outlet pipelines have already been constructed and the discharge facility on the Burnett River is out to tender for design and construction.
At start up, the new Rubyanna Plant will take the sewage from the East Bundaberg Plant and Council staff have been installing the sewer infrastructure in preparation for this connection to the existing pipework. Planning is also underway for decommissioning of the East Wastewater Treatment Plant once the new plant is fully operational.
Downer has set up temporarily at the new regional pumping station site on Darnell Street, East Bundaberg and will relocate to Rubyanna Road once earthworks have been completed.
STATE GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTES TORUBYANNA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT PROJECT Bundaberg Regional Council welcomes the support of the Queensland Government granting a $5 Million funding contribution under the Building our Regions Program to construct the Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A further application for interest free loans is currently being assessed under the Catalyst Infrastructure program. The Queensland Government’s continued support for this essential infrastructure is greatly appreciated and will certainly facilitate economic growth for our region.
A quantum leap IN WATER QUALITY to meet environmental standards
The Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) will provide a standard of treatment never seen before in our region to meet increased environmental licence conditions. The new plant will incorporate membrane technology to remove fine particles from the water thereby increasing the quality of the treated water.
This vastly improved output will provide a significant improvement in the environmental conditions of the Burnett River as the current East Wastewater Treatment Plant produces high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous which are undesirable to the health of our waterways. This old plant at East Bundaberg will be decommissioned in early 2018 once Rubyanna is operational.
Rubyanna WWTP needs a discharge point at the Burnett River to operate the plant. This discharge infrastructure includes the installation of a pipeline and diffuser arrangement. The
INSPECTION OF NAMBOUR WASTEWATER
TREATMENT PLANTThe CRG has partnered with Council through the entire project and this engagement has resulted in members learning about and viewing various wastewater treatment plants to gain first-hand experience of the current technology in use in modern treatment plants. The latest of these visits took place in mid-February with five CRG members joining Councillors and key staff on a tour of the Nambour Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Nambour plant closely mirrors the Rubyanna Plant design; although Nambour is a mix of new and old infrastructure.
Community Reference Group member, Daniel Loveday who lives 500m from the Rubyanna plant site initially harboured concerns regarding odour generated by the plant and found it reassuring to note during the tour that no odour concerns had been reported during the first year of operation of the Nambour Plant even though the closest resident to the Nambour plant lived only 400 metres away. He was impressed by the Nambour plant, its technology and minimal odour issues and was informed that the Rubyanna Plant will surpass Nambour Plant in performance. Daniel also welcomed the technology that has resulted in there being no requirement for an effluent storage pond to be built at Rubyanna.
Local farmer and CRG member, Mark Pressler was interested to view the operation of the Nambour Plant to satisfy some concerns he had as well as ensuring he had the first-hand knowledge to share with community
members. Mark particularly liked the environmental outcomes associated with the disposal of
treated effluent water and the organic residue which will certainly have agricultural benefits. He was advised that the Nambour plant produced around 10T of organic matter per day which was removed off site
and used on local farms. This matter is laboratory tested to ensure it is suitable for spreading on agricultural land. If it doesn’t measure up then it has to be disposed of by other approved means. Mark also discovered that the treated effluent water was of such good quality that it can be applied by traditional spray irrigation methods instead of just trickle irrigation.
pipeline will extend into the river bed between Strathdee’s Road Boat Ramp and Bundaberg Sugar’s cable crossing. Twelve risers from the diffuser will be installed just above the river bed at an average depth of approximately 12 m. This will mean there will be restriction of anchorage, trawling and netting in the immediate area to protect this new infrastructure. This site was selected due to the naturally high velocities at this point in the river which will assist in effectively dispersing the treated water.
Council has an online registration for your email address if you would like to be kept up to date on the River Discharge Project. This can be found at www.bundaberg.qld.gov.au under Development – Major Developments – Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
MEET THE DOWNER TEAMThe Rubyanna team are happy to be working in their home town to deliver this significant infrastructure for the Bundaberg region.From L-R: Paul McCay, Tahlia Linton, Don MacDonald, Chris Lovejoy& Chris Arnold
The Rubyanna Wastewater Treatment Plant Community Reference Group (CRG) has been in place for four years to act as a reference point for the community to provide feedback to Bundaberg Regional Council in regard to the design, construction and operation of this major infrastructure project.
The CRG is diversified with members from different stakeholder groups. It is designed to represent a range of key interests, positions and concerns to provide an independent exchange between the community and the council or an important ‘go between’ role. The CRG is chaired by an independent party.
From 2012-16 the CRG has been successfully working through a number of community issues raised throughout the process leading up to construction of the pipelines, planning of the Discharge Facility on the Burnett River and construction of the new treatment plant and regional pumping station including:
• • Potential odour, noise, loss of amenity
• • Traffic management during construction
• • Maintenance and improvement of environmental values
• • Stakeholder engagement and complaints process
• • Location of any potential treated effluent pond (if required in future)
We welcome your views and input and encourage you to use Downer’s complaints process as outlined. Please feel free to also contact me or the CRG members at anytime to discuss any issue or provide feedback on the project.
Angela WilliamsINDEPENDENT CHAIR RUBYANNA CRG
COMMUNITY REFERENCE GROUP
SOLAR POWERS NEW PLANTModern wastewater treatment plants use a significant amount of electricity to provide oxygen to the microorganisms that break down the organic matter and nutrients in the sewage. For the Rubyanna plant, the power demand will be even higher than normal as fine membranes are being used to separate the treated water from the solids. In this system high pressure vacuum pumps are used to “suck” the clean water through the membranes leaving behind all the solids which are then washed off the membranes and treated separately. It is estimated that at full plant load the power costs for Rubyanna will total over $400,000 a year at current electricity tariffs.
To offset this cost a 450 kW capacity ground based solar power facility is being installed beside the treatment plant. This will be made up of approximately 1500 solar panels covering an area of 0.5 ha. This is approximately 150 times larger than the size of a typical domestic roof solar panel system.
The solar panels will be installed on a series of metal frames erected approximately 1.5 m above ground level. It is estimated that the solar power facility will save Council $200,000 in power costs each year or almost 50% of the total power demand, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To Council’s knowledge this will be the largest solar power facility associated with a wastewater treatment plant in Australia.
Angela W ill iamsAngela W ill iamsTELEPHONE: 0427 217 077Facilitator / Consultant - Bundaberg
Don JohanssonDon JohanssonTELEPHONE: 4152 1120Kirbys Road, Rubyanna
Daniel LovedayDaniel LovedayTELEPHONE: 0428 594 520Barrons Road, Rubyanna
John HarroldJohn HarroldTELEPHONE: 0429 492 837Rubyanna Road, Rubyanna
Mark PresslerMark PresslerTELEPHONE: 0414 593 105Pressler’s Road, Bundaberg
John FicheraJohn FicheraTELEPHONE: 0428 597 254Rubyanna Road, Bundaberg
Raymond BurkeRaymond BurkeTELEPHONE: 4159 4316Sea Park Road, Burnett Heads
