By Emily-Rose Toohey
Due to Warwick’s susceptibility for drought and future potential water shortages, council has entered into a contract with Pensar Water to upgrade the town’s sewerage treatment plant two weeks ago.
This contract is for the sum of $1,799,437, and $551,378 in additional funding for the project will be allocated in next financial year’s capital works budget.
Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) have previously received grants from the State and Federal Governments under the National Water Infrastructure Development Funding (NWIDF) for this.
According to council’s report, this was to improve the quantity, quality and reliability of the recycled water available.
“It was also to expand the recycled water network to increase the number of customers using it,” the report stated.
Furthermore, the report said that the proposed upgrade works to the sewerage treatment plant will address several key issues with the existing plant.
“These issues includes treatment limitations in maintaining an ongoing compliance with health and/or environmental regulations, and a lack of control on the existing filters,” the report said.
At the recent council meeting, an SDRC staff member said that they are seeking additional funding to complete this project, which council just approved.
“We’ve been through an extensive tendering process to achieve the best outcome with the funding available, but we’ve decided to do a different approach,” he said.
“It’s a time consuming process but we’re doing our homework.”
Cr Andrew Gale thanked the staff involved for their extensive work on the project.
“It’s innovative – I can see there’s been a lot of work put into this to maximise the value for ratepayers,” Cr Gale said.
Cr Stephen Tancred agreed with his comments, calling the upgrade innovative as well.
“Avoiding discharge in to the environment is a core aim, so I hope it goes well,” Cr Tancred said.
However, Cr Ross Bartley had concerns that the system would be susceptible to hackers, as discovered in his research.
“It’s used nationally and internationally, but I hope we have a good firewall,” Cr Bartley said.
However, the SDRC staff member said a cyber security audit was completed last year.
The motion was carried, moved by Cr Gale and Seconded by Cr Tancred.
