Thuringowa Mayor Les Tyrell recently launched Council’s changeover to an effluent reuse scheme for highway irrigation from one of its major sewerage treatment plants. Councillor Tyrell turned on the pumps used to irrigate garden beds along a two kilometre stretch of the Bruce Highway on the northern entrance to the city.
The project, initiated under the City Beautification Program and managed by Council’s Parks Department and Thuringowa Water, was completed in December last year. The remaining two kilometres of the highway project will begin this month and is scheduled to take about six months to complete.
“Until now, the plant’s effluent was discharged under EPA licence into a nearby creek,” Councillor Tyrell said.
He said the scheme was environmentally friendly for the following reasons.
- The reuse scheme conserves the precious natural resource of potable water.
- It reduces nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, from being discharged into water courses.
- It uses these nutrients found in effluent water for plant growth which otherwise would have been wasted.
More than 210 kilometres of sub surface drip tubing was also installed along the highway’s garden beds as part of the scheme.
“It’s been a massive job, but it’s something Council hopes to expand into other areas of the city,” the Mayor said.
