Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:27): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Will the minister tell the house about the upgrade to the Christies Beach wastewater treatment plant and how this plant will benefit current and future residents in the area?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:27): I thank the honourable member for his most pulchritudinous question. His elegant phrasing, I think, marks it out as a fine example of the genre, and he should be congratulated for it. Wastewater treatment plays a vital role in protecting our health, the environment and our quality of life. Every year, SA Water manages and treats millions of litres of wastewater resulting in enormous environmental benefits, and recycled water produces an additional source of water and decreases our reliance on mains water and water-dependent ecosystems, of course, such as the River Murray.

Many people in our state may not be aware that South Australia has led the nation in installing wastewater treatment systems. Adelaide, for example, was the first Australian capital city in the country to achieve secondary treatment of all wastewater. It's wonderful, I think, that our innovative practices continue to be recognised around the nation and indeed globally.

I am pleased to report that SA Water and Kellogg Brown & Root won the infrastructure innovation award for the Christies Beach wastewater treatment plant upgrade at the Australian Water Association's South Australian branch annual awards last Friday. The awards are an opportunity to celebrate the outstanding performers in the industry and look back on the significant achievements of the water sector throughout the year.

A major upgrade of the Christies Beach wastewater treatment plant was recently completed. The plant now receives and treats wastewater from Adelaide's southern suburbs, and some of this recycled water irrigates McLaren Vale vineyards. I am also pleased to report that the Christies Beach wastewater treatment plant upgrade has been completed significantly under budget at approximately $220 million and has increased the plant's current capacity to 16.5 gigalitres per annum.

This has been a large scale project that is designed to accommodate the expected growth in population in the Christies Beach catchment area expected by 2030, as well as deliver significant environmental and recreational benefits for the area. An important part of the success of this project has been the close collaboration and consultation of all parties involved, including regulators and contractors, consultants, our metropolitan alliance partner Allwater and, of course, the local community.

The upgrade included the decommissioning and conversion of the Noarlunga Downs sludge lagoons into wetlands that naturally clean and filter stormwater before it goes back into the Onkaparinga River. In other words, stormwater no longer flows straight off the roads into the Onkaparinga as it used to do. It is now filtered through a series of stormwater ponds that naturally remove nutrients from the stormwater, making it cleaner when it enters the river.

The decision to create the wetlands resulted from community consultation and environmental investigation, because in addition to the environmental benefits the wetlands offer beautiful recreation opportunities for locals and also provide important habitat for plants and animals. The upgrade has also resulted in a project meeting one of the key environmental objectives of reducing nitrogen loads to the Gulf St Vincent to, I understand, around half the previous levels, and these measures will have significant positive impact on the health and future recovery of the marine and coastal environments.

In addition to these very important environmental benefits, the upgrade will offer the local community fantastic leisure and recreation opportunities. School and community groups can now tour the Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant and learn about the importance of wastewater treatment. This upgrade has been a great success, and I take this opportunity to congratulate everyone involved in it. It is important to point out that water is only one of the by-products that result from the treatment process. Biosolids are collected and treated and used by farmers as fertiliser, and biogas is used to generate electricity for the plant, thereby reducing the plant's carbon footprint.

Recycled water, of course, is used for a multitude of purposes, such as watering parks, sporting fields and vegetable crops, as well as flushing toilets. Our recycled water is even used to grow the bamboo, I am told, to feed our pandas, Wang Wang and Funi, and the upgrade to the Christies Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant is another example of this government's innovative approach to water services.

SA Water owns about 24 wastewater treatment plants in South Australia. Five are operated by SA Water's metropolitan contractor, Allwater, one is operated by another contractor, Trility, and 18 are regional wastewater treatment plants operated by SA Water. There are three wastewater treatment plants in South Australia that are operated by councils or a third party, I am told. Council community wastewater management schemes are designed to collect, treat, reuse and/or dispose of primary treated effluent from septic tanks on individual properties. Disposal systems can be either evaporation ponds or irrigation systems or other reuse, for example, the wetlands that I just outlined earlier.

It is vitally important that the state government, through SA Water, works with local councils or the owners, whoever they may be, if they are private enterprise owned, to make sure that these systems can assist in the economic and population growth of the regions. Community wastewater management systems also protect water and land resources from pollution. Again, it is vitally important that we are involved in this when they are on riparian land, for example, the River Murray.

So SA Water works very closely with councils where councils receive treated water from SA Water's wastewater treatment plants for reuse; where councils extract sewer water from SA Water's wastewater network for treatment in their own wastewater treatment plants; or where a council's community wastewater management scheme discharges to SA Water's system for treatment and disposal.

I understand that inquiries have also been received from councils seeking SA Water to potentially provide advisory services or manage or take ownership of existing community wastewater management schemes. We are very happy to work very closely with councils on community wastewater management schemes, because it is a vitally important adjunct to economic development in our regional areas.