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Business View Australia - March-April 2016 13
INFRASTRUCTURE
Some of the improvements are high-
tech like a brand new set of electronic
scales and the infrastructure which
accompanies that, but much of the
upgrade is basic things like improved
fencing, elevated walkways for
agents and customers, and putting
rubber matting down on the floor
for the comfort of stock, but which
ultimately improves their condition
and increases prices buyers will pay.
A lot of the infrastructure investment
has been and will be spent on local
suppliers.”
Sewerage and Water
Supply
Conscious of the need to
accommodateforagrowingpopulation,
Council began working over 10 years
ago on a major capacity upgrade at
the Dubbo sewage treatment plant.
“Up until last year it had a capacity
of 35,000 people, about equal to its
current loading. However with the
constant growth of Dubbo and the
nearby Villages of Brocklehurst and
Wongarbon it was obvious a major
upgrade would be needed to cater for
future growth.
In 2014-2015 we spent $23 million
of council money upgrading it to a
55,000 equivalent population facility.
That project is all but finished at the
moment, with only a bit of tidying
up happening. We didn’t want any
constraints on Dubbo’s ability to
accept new businesses and new
people. We did a similar project on
the water plant back in 2006 which
increased that plant’s capacity to
55,000 EP, but that’s outside the
three year plan we were talking
about. That $21 million project will
see us through to around 2040. You
can’t just continue to allow a city to
grow without an adequate water or
sewerage treatment system.”
Eleven
years
ago
Dubbo
commissioned its own effluent
irrigation farm just north of the City on
the property “Greengrove”. This latest
sewage treatment plant upgrade will
continue to pump treated effluent
to “Greengrove” and the adjoining
private farmer who also pays us to be
allowed to use our effluent. Sewage
sludge from the plant is also ploughed
into the ground at “Greengove” and
this has seen a quadrupling of the
Lucerne productivity from those areas
where the sludge is used.
The land-based disposal strategy
at “Greengrove” has been a very
sustainable operation, with both the
liquid effluent and treated solids being
put to economic use whilst keeping
the embodied nutrients and salt out
of the Murray Darling River system.
There are still other major projects
underway to enhance Dubbo’s water
supply and sewerage services. The
Villages of Eumungerie and Mogriguy
to the north of Dubbo will be supplied
with town water for the first time by