April 18, 2013
South Burnett water and sewerage bills could rise by an average of between $100 and $150 next year.
The South Burnett Regional Council has been told by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection that it needs to upgrade Kingaroy’s ageing Waste Water Treatment Plant urgently.
In fact, it must lodge a development application for the work by June 30, or face heavy fines.
Council officers estimate the treatment plant upgrade will cost between $21.5 million and $22.8 million. An extra $4.8 million will also be required for other works and upgrades.
Officers estimate that whole-of-life operating costs for the new plant will add a further $2.8 million and $5.4 million to current operating costs.
The $29 million to $33 million total cost of the project represents almost 60 per cent of the SBRC’s annual Budget, so the council will seek a long-term loan from Treasury to pay for the work.
The cost of servicing and repaying this loan will ultimately be carried by South Burnett ratepayers through higher water and sewerage charges.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann told southburnett.com.au this could be as much as $100 to $150 a year.
The treatment plant upgrade was the subject of much discussion at Council’s monthly meeting yesterday.
Councillors agreed the upgrade was something that had to be done now and Council had “no choice” in the matter.
They said the former Kingaroy Shire Council had been well aware of the need to do it but had always deferred the project in the hope of finding a cheaper option.
One outcome of this was that a 40 per cent State Government subsidy which had been available for council infrastructure projects no longer existed.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann told fellow councillors he’d had discussions with the State Government on the matter, but had been told there was no hope of any assistance for at least the next few years because of the poor condition of Queensland’s finances.
Last May the Council foreshadowed it would undertake a 10-year capital works program to upgrade all the region’s water and sewerage plants. Most had been built in the 1940s and 1950s and were approaching the end of their working life.
In the 2012-13 Budget brought down two months later, the SBRC set aside $6.379 million to be spent on operation and maintenance of the region’s water supply and sewerage system, along with $10.523 million to be spent on capital improvements to water and wastewater, to begin the program.
However the need for the Kingaroy waste water treatment plant upgrade was brought to a head by the Australia Day floods, which pushed the plant to its limits.
The failure of sewerage mains led to downstream pollution in the Stuart River which roused the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection into action.
Water from the Stuart River flows into Gordonbrook Dam – which is periodically closed because of blue-green algae blooms – and ultimately, after treatment, back into the town’s drinking water supplies.
Mayor Kratzmann said he was “deeply unhappy” ratepayers would have to bear the burden of the upgrade, which he’d originally hoped could be spread out over a longer period.
But he thought one small, bright spot in the picture was the new plant would be bigger. This would allow for future expansion of the population, and also fix the issues the floods had brought about.
“The upgrade will not only be cost effective but will also be environmentally friendly. It will be made of the latest and most modern technology to ensure it lasts for decades.”
Cr Cheryl Dalton said the environment would also have a win because the upgrade would put an end to discharges going into the Stuart River.
Related articles:
- Sewerage Repairs Will Start Soon
- $90m 10-Year Overhaul Of Water and Sewerage
- Council Must Borrow To Replace Sewage Plants
