April 20, 2016
The South Burnett Regional Council has launched an ambitious program to supply recycled water to sporting clubs in Blackbutt, Nanango, Kingaroy, Wondai and Murgon.
The plan would ensure the South Burnett’s premier sportsgrounds and golf links always look green and lush, even when the region is in drought.
In a best case scenario, the program could see the region’s sporting clubs able to access recycled water to irrigate their sports fields during the coming financial year.
At Wednesday’s Council meeting, Councillors gave approval to supply Kingaroy’s sports grounds with recycled water from the new Waste Water Treatment Plant being built in River Road.
The water will be transported from the plant to the Bjelke-Petersen Recreation Area’s sports fields by a pipeline.
The Recreation Area is the home of Kingaroy’s cricket, AFL, rugby league and soccer clubs.
Infrastructure General Manager Russell Hood told the meeting the pipeline could be built with no impact on Council’s budget because its estimated $150,000 cost would be paid for out of savings found during the waste water treatment plant’s construction.
At the same meeting, Councillors also voted to apply to the State Government’s “Building Our Regions” (BOR) fund for a $600,000 grant to provide similar facilities to sports groups in Murgon, Wondai, Nanango and Blackbutt.
Mr Hood told Councillors the BOR fund required successful applicants to provide a matching contribution.
So if Council’s application was successful, the SBRC will have to contribute $600,000 towards the project.
In response to a question from Cr Danita Potter about what would happen if Council’s grant application was not successful, Mr Hood said in that case the SBRC could apply its $600,000 contribution to providing the facility to the two neediest cases – Murgon and Wondai.
The Council would then need to look at a similar contribution in the following Budget to provide the same facility for Nanango and Blackbutt.
Mr Hood said the money would be used to upgrade machinery at each town’s waste water treatment plant, which would lift the standard of recycled water from its current Class C or Class D to Class A.
Councillors voted to allocate $600,000 to the project in the up-coming 2016-2017 Budget, and apply for an extra $600,000 contribution from the State Government in the hope the entire project could be carried out in the shortest possible time.
Both motions were passed unanimously.
