Brisbane Lord Mayor, Councillor Campbell Newman has opened the upgraded Wynnum Water Reclamation Plant, which greatly reduces the amount of nitrogen discharged into Moreton Bay.
Located 19 kilometres from Brisbane, Moreton Bay was formed approximately 6,000 years ago as the sea level rose and inundated what were then the floodplains of the Brisbane River.
Councillor Newman said the upgrade will have significant benefits on the marine environment in the area and is supported by the Queensland Government.
“This $28 million upgrade has reduced the amount of nitrogen discharged into Moreton Bay from 75 tonnes per year to just 11 tonnes per year – a reduction of some 85 per cent,” he said. “With less nitrogen being discharged into our waterways, there will be less chance of algal growth and an improvement in the health of sea grass and other marine species.”
The upgrade to the Water Reclamation Plant is only the first stage of the Wynnum plant upgrade, with the Micro Filtration Reverse Osmosis (MFRO) plant still under construction.
Councillor Newman said once the MFRO is built,
4.5 megalitres of treated water per day will go directly to Caltex for industrial reuse.
“Caltex currently uses around 5.2 million litres of water per day,” he said. “This new project will enable Caltex to reduce its use of Brisbane’s town water by a massive 85 per cent.”
Councillor Newman said as part of the Wynnum Water Reclamation Plant upgrade, old treatment equipment has been replaced with a state of the art Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) system.
“In the BNR process, bacteria are used to convert nitrogen in the liquid to nitrogen gas, which escapes into the atmosphere rather than going into Brisbane’s waterways,” Councillor Newman said. “The chemical disinfection of wastewater has also been replaced with a more environmentally friendly and safer ultraviolet light disinfection, which further eliminates chemicals in treated wastewater.”
The project has also increased the capacity of the Wynnum plant from 8.5 to nine megalitres per day to cater for the area’s increasing population.
The upgrade was completed by the Brisbane Water Enviro Alliance (BWEA) – a collaborative project team made up of Brisbane City Council; constructors John Holland Group; wastewater specialists Aquatec Maxcon; and consulting engineering firms MWH and JWP. The Wynnum plant is the last of four water reclamation plants to be upgraded by the BWEA. Upgrades have already been completed at Wacol, Sandgate and Oxley Creek Water Reclamation Plants.
For further information contact Brisbane City Council on (07) 3403 8888.
