July 11, 2024
South Burnett Regional Council will spend $5.8 million in 2024-25 on upgrades and replacements of parts of the region’s water and sewerage systems.
The upgrades were announced at Wednesday’s 2024-25 Budget meeting.
This year, $2.6 million has been earmarked for:
- Stuart River Rising Main – $822,000
- 1000 water meter replacements – $125,000
- Drainage repairs to Gordonbrook Spillway – $87,000
- $850,000 for water main replacements in Macalister Street, Murgon; Beresford Street, Proston; Markwell Street, Kingaroy; Glendon Street, Kingaroy; and Wickham Street, Nanango.
Othera major projects for water include the continuation of planning and design for the region’s major trunk infrastructure needs and an upgrade of Gordonbrook Dam’s spillway ($716,000).
Mayor Kathy Duff said the coming year would be an important step in planning to improve the region’s water quality.
“Council will undertake the first stage option analysis to upgrade water treatment plants and water quality reviews,” she said.
“We will also undertake a major air scour program in Kingaroy to reduce dirty water caused by the build-up of bio-film in water mains, and we expect this program will commence in the coming months.”
A major shift to trade waste policy and enforcement will also be on the agenda for wastewater infrastructure in 2024-25, with Council budgeting $3.2 million for repairs to its state-of-the-art Nereda Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kingaroy.
The plant suffered major damage when a trade waste discharge containing acid, fats, oil and grease went into the Council’s sewer network last December.
As a result, Council is still investigating the incident and will introduce tougher policies and changes to its trade waste management procedures this year to prevent future “fatbergs”.
Other projects for wastewater will continue with telemetry upgrades and the start of a trunk infrastructure sewer upgrade design for First Avenue in Kingaroy.
- Related article: Dumping Damages Sewage Plant
