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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