Farms and golf courses have reaped the rewards of environmentally-friendly processes at the Port Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In the 2020/21 financial year, Douglas Shire Council, Queensland, re-purposed about 540ML of recycled water, the equivalent of 217 Olympic-sized swimming pools, for irrigation on golf courses in Port Douglas.
Council employs a range of wastewater treatment processes to remove waste from the water so it can be safely reused or returned to the environment.
For example, 2037 wet tonnes of dewatered sludge were taken by contractors and used as organic fertiliser and soil conditioner across farms in the region last financial year.
Douglas Shire Mayor, Michael Kerr said the Mossman and Port Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plants played a vital role in the everyday lives of ratepayers.
“The amount of work that goes into handling… [the community’s] waste once it goes down the drain and how we then use it in practical ways is truly mind-boggling.”
Council has made a series of educational videos for its website to give the community an in-depth understanding of how the treatment plants work.
“We know how important protecting our environment is and it is fantastic to see all the work that is done behind the scenes.”
Wastewater is defined as the water-borne wastes of a community, containing about 99.9 percent pure water and 0.1 percent pollutants by weight.
Wastewater comes from residences, local commercial and light industrial sites, such as clubs, caravan parks, restaurants, commercial laundries, oil company retail outlets and hospitals. It does not include roof water or surface runoff.
