Tasmania’s Brighton Council plans to expand its innovative effluent reuse program to further benefit private enterprise in the region and protect local rivers from damage. In 1997, Council stopped discharging treated effluent into the Jordan River and instead used it to irrigate pine plantations and local farms.
This practice will be significantly expanded following receipt of a $788,000 Federal Government grant under the Natural Heritage Trust program.
Mayor Tony Foster said the funding would allow Council to fulfil one of its long term goals earlier than expected. “In 1993, we set a strategic objective of stopping all effluent discharge into the Derwent and Jordan Rivers by the year 2000,” he said.
“At the time, it seemed to be a very ambitious goal but here we are in early 1999 preparing to achieve that goal. Had it not been for the Federal Government’s generous support we would not have been able to do this.”
Council will use the funding to pump treated effluent to farms in the Municipality, which grow a variety of produce from peas and potatoes to poppies and pine.
Mayor Foster said the project was unique because while the Council pumped the effluent to the farms, the farmers would provide the dams for its storage. “Public funds will therefore not be required to provide storage for the wet season when irrigation is not required,” he said.
Mayor Foster said the Council’s effluent reuse program was innovative not only for Tasmania, but for Australia. “There are many Councils in Australia that have taken action to stop effluent going into waterways but most of them simply dispose of the product,” he said. “Brighton will actually put it to good use.”
For further information contact Ron Sanderson, Deputy General Manager, Brighton Council, telephone (03) 6263 0333.
