Through an innovative approach to wastewater management, Shoalhaven City Council is contributing to cleaner coastal waters. The Northern Region Reclaimed Water Management Scheme will be the largest effluent recycling scheme in NSW.
It is a cooperative project involving the Shoalhaven City Council, the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation and local farmers.
The project will redirect treated wastewater discharging into coastal waterways for reuse on dairy and agricultural farms, golf courses and sporting fields. A million dollar Clean Seas Program contribution will increase the scheme’s accessibility to farmers.
The aim is to achieve an 80 percent reuse rate to minimise discharges of treated wastewater into the ocean and Shoalhaven River. An existing discharge to Jervis Bay will be eliminated.
Shoalhaven City Council is also using reclaimed water and biosolids (sewage sludge) to irrigate experimental tea-tree plantations. The tea-tree oil industry has direct export potential of $25m. It employs about 12,000 people throughout regional Australia.
As a result of the Clean Seas Program’s investment, tea-tree plantations have been established at Ulladulla and Bomaderry. The outcomes, according to Project Coordinator, Walter Moore, have been very positive.
“Tea-trees can use a lot more water than pasture which is the traditional way to reuse wastewater,” he said.
“At Ulladulla, we found that the tea-trees produced excellent returns of oil with applications of reclaimed water and they did even better when we added biosolids.”
The larger Bomaderry tea-tree project builds on the Ulladulla trials. It aims to use up to six megalitres of reclaimed water per hectare per year. Council is also trialing tea-tree propagation using wastewater from the local Manildra Starches and Dairy Farmers factories.
Tea-tree cropping has a huge potential. The trees have a rapid growth rate, can be continually harvested, and are high yielding. The oil also provides cash flow opportunities for the restructuring dairy industry.
“We are not just redirecting wastewater out of waterways,” Walter Morre said.
“We are generating income and creating employment opportunities without degrading soil or water quality.”
